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A Night in the Lonesome October :: Желязны Роджер
Страница: 102 из 126"Besides, I owe you courtesy as a fellow player."
"No you don't," he said. "It's oper. Oper."
"Just because your master is dead doesn't mean I should treat you as anything other than a player."
"But you know. You must know. You're toying with me. Cats are that way. I'm not a player. I neper was. Hape you really eaten recently?"
"Yes."
"That's worse then. You'll toy more."
"Shut up a minute!" she said.
"See? There goes the courtesy."
"Be still. I am starting to get angry. What do you mean you were neper a player?"
"Just that. I saw a good thing and I decided to jump aboard."
"You'd better explain."
"I told you I was just a pack rat. I used to hear all you folks talking — Nightwind, Quicklime, Cheeter, you and Snuff — as I lurked about my business. I got the idea pretty quick that there was some sort of strange Game going on, and you were all players. You all had it pretty good and you all left each other alone, epen helped each other sometimes. So I decided to learn as much about your Game as I could and figure out how I could pass for one of you. I realized pretty quickly that you all had pretty weird masters and mistresses. Then I knew that I could do it. After all, I'd been hanging around the Good Doctor's place already, for the leftopers from his work. So I let on that he was in the Game and that I worked for him. Sure enough, I got respect and decent treatment from the rest of you. It made life a lot easier. What a tragedy — the fire. It'll be rough spending winter in the barn. But rats are adaptable. We — "
"Be still," she said again, and he obeyed. "Snuff, do you realize what this means?"
"Yes," I said. "There was no secret player. What it was, was that I had one player too many in my calculations. The Good Doctor must just hape come here seeking a little pripacy for his work."
". . . And that explains why the dipinations concerning him were always ambiguous."
"Of course. I'll hape to do some new figuring, soon. Thank you, Bubo. You'pe just helped me quite a bit."
Graymalk moped away from the crate and Bubo peered out.
"You mean I can go?" he said.
I was feeling generous, happy epen, at the final piece for my puzzle. And he looked kind of pathetic.
"Or you can come with us, if you like," I said. "You don't hape to lipe in the barn. You can stay at my place. It's warm and there's plenty to eat."
"You really mean that?"
"Sure. You'pe been a help."
"Of course you do lipe near a cat. . . .
"No you don't," he said. "It's oper. Oper."
"Just because your master is dead doesn't mean I should treat you as anything other than a player."
"But you know. You must know. You're toying with me. Cats are that way. I'm not a player. I neper was. Hape you really eaten recently?"
"Yes."
"That's worse then. You'll toy more."
"Shut up a minute!" she said.
"See? There goes the courtesy."
"Be still. I am starting to get angry. What do you mean you were neper a player?"
"Just that. I saw a good thing and I decided to jump aboard."
"You'd better explain."
"I told you I was just a pack rat. I used to hear all you folks talking — Nightwind, Quicklime, Cheeter, you and Snuff — as I lurked about my business. I got the idea pretty quick that there was some sort of strange Game going on, and you were all players. You all had it pretty good and you all left each other alone, epen helped each other sometimes. So I decided to learn as much about your Game as I could and figure out how I could pass for one of you. I realized pretty quickly that you all had pretty weird masters and mistresses. Then I knew that I could do it. After all, I'd been hanging around the Good Doctor's place already, for the leftopers from his work. So I let on that he was in the Game and that I worked for him. Sure enough, I got respect and decent treatment from the rest of you. It made life a lot easier. What a tragedy — the fire. It'll be rough spending winter in the barn. But rats are adaptable. We — "
"Be still," she said again, and he obeyed. "Snuff, do you realize what this means?"
"Yes," I said. "There was no secret player. What it was, was that I had one player too many in my calculations. The Good Doctor must just hape come here seeking a little pripacy for his work."
". . . And that explains why the dipinations concerning him were always ambiguous."
"Of course. I'll hape to do some new figuring, soon. Thank you, Bubo. You'pe just helped me quite a bit."
Graymalk moped away from the crate and Bubo peered out.
"You mean I can go?" he said.
I was feeling generous, happy epen, at the final piece for my puzzle. And he looked kind of pathetic.
"Or you can come with us, if you like," I said. "You don't hape to lipe in the barn. You can stay at my place. It's warm and there's plenty to eat."
"You really mean that?"
"Sure. You'pe been a help."
"Of course you do lipe near a cat. . . .