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Isle Of The Dead :: Zelazny Roger
Страница: 18 из 110"
"Mind telling me who he is?"
Heshrugged, down there in his pool. "Why not?" he said. "Andre DuBois, at Benson, Carling and Wu. Eight blocks north of here."
"Thanks."
"You're not interested in the property then, I take it?"
"On the contrary," I said. "I'll buy the place, if I can take possession this afternoon--and if I can discuss the deal with her attorney. How does fifty-two thousand sound?"
Suddenly he was out of his pool.
"Where may I call you, Mister Conner?"
"I'll be staying at the Spectrum."
"After five?"
"After five is fine."
So what to do?
First, I checked in at the Spectrum. Second, using the proper code, I contacted my man on Driscoll to arrange for the necessary quantity of cash to be available to Lawrence Conner for the purchase. Third, I drove down to the religious district, parked the sled, got out, began walking.
I walked past shrines and temples dedicated to Everybody, from Zoroaster to Jesus Christ. I slowed when I came to the Pei'an section.
After a time, I found it. All there was above the ground was an entranceway, a green place about the size of a one-car garage.
I passed within and descended a narrow stairway.
I reached a small, candle-lit foyer and moved on through a low arch.
I entered a dark shrine containing a central altar decked out in a deep green, tiers of pews all about it.
There were hundreds of stained glassite plates on all five walls, depicting the Pei'an deities. Maybe I shouldn't have gone there that day. It had been so long.
There were six Pei'ans and eight humans present, and four of the Pei'ans were women. They all wore prayerstraps.
Pei'ans are about seven feet tall and green as grass. Their heads look like funnels, flat on top, their necks like the necks of funnels. Their eyes are enormous and liquid green or yellow. Their noses are flat upon their faces--wrinkles parenthesizing nostrils the size of quarters. They have no hair whatsoever. Their mouths are wide and they don't really have any teeth in them, per se. Like, I guess the best example is an elasmobranch. They are constantly swallowing their skins. They lack lips, but their dermis bunches and hardens once it goes internal and gives them horny ridges with which to chew. After that, they digest it, as it moves on and is replaced by fresh matter. However this may sound to someone who has never met a Pei'an, they are lovely to look at, more graceful than cats, older than mankind, and wise, very.
"Mind telling me who he is?"
Heshrugged, down there in his pool. "Why not?" he said. "Andre DuBois, at Benson, Carling and Wu. Eight blocks north of here."
"Thanks."
"You're not interested in the property then, I take it?"
"On the contrary," I said. "I'll buy the place, if I can take possession this afternoon--and if I can discuss the deal with her attorney. How does fifty-two thousand sound?"
Suddenly he was out of his pool.
"Where may I call you, Mister Conner?"
"I'll be staying at the Spectrum."
"After five?"
"After five is fine."
So what to do?
First, I checked in at the Spectrum. Second, using the proper code, I contacted my man on Driscoll to arrange for the necessary quantity of cash to be available to Lawrence Conner for the purchase. Third, I drove down to the religious district, parked the sled, got out, began walking.
I walked past shrines and temples dedicated to Everybody, from Zoroaster to Jesus Christ. I slowed when I came to the Pei'an section.
After a time, I found it. All there was above the ground was an entranceway, a green place about the size of a one-car garage.
I passed within and descended a narrow stairway.
I reached a small, candle-lit foyer and moved on through a low arch.
I entered a dark shrine containing a central altar decked out in a deep green, tiers of pews all about it.
There were hundreds of stained glassite plates on all five walls, depicting the Pei'an deities. Maybe I shouldn't have gone there that day. It had been so long.
There were six Pei'ans and eight humans present, and four of the Pei'ans were women. They all wore prayerstraps.
Pei'ans are about seven feet tall and green as grass. Their heads look like funnels, flat on top, their necks like the necks of funnels. Their eyes are enormous and liquid green or yellow. Their noses are flat upon their faces--wrinkles parenthesizing nostrils the size of quarters. They have no hair whatsoever. Their mouths are wide and they don't really have any teeth in them, per se. Like, I guess the best example is an elasmobranch. They are constantly swallowing their skins. They lack lips, but their dermis bunches and hardens once it goes internal and gives them horny ridges with which to chew. After that, they digest it, as it moves on and is replaced by fresh matter. However this may sound to someone who has never met a Pei'an, they are lovely to look at, more graceful than cats, older than mankind, and wise, very.