Read Online Trullion: Alastor 2262 by Jack Vance - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jack Vance
Ads: Link
artica wood framed high narrow mirrors which cast back and forth the glitter of the chandelier. The footman returned and conducted Glinnes to the library, where Thammas Lord Gensifer, wearing a maroon lounge suit, sat at his ease before a screen, watching a hussade game.**
stelt: a precious material quarried from volcanic necks upon certain types of dead stars; a composite of metal and natural glass, displaying infinite variations of pattern and color.
* The hussade field is a gridiron of “runs” (also called”ways”) and “laterals” above a tank of water four feet deep. The runs are nine feet apart, the laterals twelve feet. Trapezes permit the players to swing sideways from run to run, but not from lateral to lateral. The central moat is eight feet wide and can be passed at either end, at the center, or jumped if the player is sufficiently agile. The “home” tanks at either end of the field flank the platform on which stands the sheirl.
Players buff or body-block opposing players into the tanks, but may not use their hands to push, pull, hold, or tackle.
The captain of each team carries the “hange" a bulb on a three. foot pedestal. When the light glows the captain may not be attacked, nor may he attack. When he moves six feet from the hange, or when he lifts the hange to shift his position, the light goes dead; he may then attack and be attacked. An extremely strong captain may almost ignore his hange; a captain less able stations himself on a key junction, which he is then able to protect by virtue of his impregnability within the area of the live hange.
The sheirl stands on her platform at the end of the field between the home tanks. She wears a white gown with a gold ring at the front The enemy players seek to lay hold of this gold ring; a single pull denudes the sheirl. The dignity of the sheirl may be ransomed by her captain for five hundred ozols, a thousand, two thousand, or higher, in accordance with a prearranged schedule.
“Sit down, Glinnes, sit down,” said Lord Gensifer. “Will you take tea or perhaps a rum punch?” “I’ll have rum punch, please.” Lord Gensifer motioned to the screen. “Last year’s finals at Cluster Stadium. The black and reds are the Hextar Zulans from Sigre. The greens are the Falifonics from Green Star. Marvelous play. I’ve watched the game four times now and each time I’m more amazed.”
“I saw the Falifonics two or three years ago,” said Glinnes. “I thought them agile and deft, and swift as lightning.”
“They’re still the same. Not large, but they seem to be everywhere at once. They have no great defense, but they don’t need any with the attack they mount.”
The footman served rum punch in frosted silver goblets. For a period Lord Gensifer and Glinnes sat watching the play: charges and shifts, feints and ploys, apparently reckless feats of agility, timing so exact as to seem bizarre coincidence. Patterns formed to calls from the captain, aggressions were launched and repulsed. Gradually the combinations began to favor the Falifonics. The Falifonic middle forwards swung to fork a Zulan rover and Zulan guards charged to protect; the Falifonic right wing slid through the gap thus opened, gained the platform, seized the gold ring at the sheirl’s waist, and play came to a halt for the paying of ransom. Lord Gensifer turned off the screen. “The Falifonics won handily, as no doubt you know. Booty shared out at four thousand ozols a man , . . But you didn’t come to talk hussade. Or did you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I happened to be in Welgen today and noticed mention of the new Fleharish Broad Club.” Lord Gensifer made an expansive gesture. I’m the sponsor. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and finally I took the plunge. Welgen Stadium is our home field, and now all I’ve got to do is assemble a team. What about you? Are you still playing?”
“I played for my division,” said Glinnes. “We took the sector
stelt: a precious material quarried from volcanic necks upon certain types of dead stars; a composite of metal and natural glass, displaying infinite variations of pattern and color.
* The hussade field is a gridiron of “runs” (also called”ways”) and “laterals” above a tank of water four feet deep. The runs are nine feet apart, the laterals twelve feet. Trapezes permit the players to swing sideways from run to run, but not from lateral to lateral. The central moat is eight feet wide and can be passed at either end, at the center, or jumped if the player is sufficiently agile. The “home” tanks at either end of the field flank the platform on which stands the sheirl.
Players buff or body-block opposing players into the tanks, but may not use their hands to push, pull, hold, or tackle.
The captain of each team carries the “hange" a bulb on a three. foot pedestal. When the light glows the captain may not be attacked, nor may he attack. When he moves six feet from the hange, or when he lifts the hange to shift his position, the light goes dead; he may then attack and be attacked. An extremely strong captain may almost ignore his hange; a captain less able stations himself on a key junction, which he is then able to protect by virtue of his impregnability within the area of the live hange.
The sheirl stands on her platform at the end of the field between the home tanks. She wears a white gown with a gold ring at the front The enemy players seek to lay hold of this gold ring; a single pull denudes the sheirl. The dignity of the sheirl may be ransomed by her captain for five hundred ozols, a thousand, two thousand, or higher, in accordance with a prearranged schedule.
“Sit down, Glinnes, sit down,” said Lord Gensifer. “Will you take tea or perhaps a rum punch?” “I’ll have rum punch, please.” Lord Gensifer motioned to the screen. “Last year’s finals at Cluster Stadium. The black and reds are the Hextar Zulans from Sigre. The greens are the Falifonics from Green Star. Marvelous play. I’ve watched the game four times now and each time I’m more amazed.”
“I saw the Falifonics two or three years ago,” said Glinnes. “I thought them agile and deft, and swift as lightning.”
“They’re still the same. Not large, but they seem to be everywhere at once. They have no great defense, but they don’t need any with the attack they mount.”
The footman served rum punch in frosted silver goblets. For a period Lord Gensifer and Glinnes sat watching the play: charges and shifts, feints and ploys, apparently reckless feats of agility, timing so exact as to seem bizarre coincidence. Patterns formed to calls from the captain, aggressions were launched and repulsed. Gradually the combinations began to favor the Falifonics. The Falifonic middle forwards swung to fork a Zulan rover and Zulan guards charged to protect; the Falifonic right wing slid through the gap thus opened, gained the platform, seized the gold ring at the sheirl’s waist, and play came to a halt for the paying of ransom. Lord Gensifer turned off the screen. “The Falifonics won handily, as no doubt you know. Booty shared out at four thousand ozols a man , . . But you didn’t come to talk hussade. Or did you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I happened to be in Welgen today and noticed mention of the new Fleharish Broad Club.” Lord Gensifer made an expansive gesture. I’m the sponsor. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and finally I took the plunge. Welgen Stadium is our home field, and now all I’ve got to do is assemble a team. What about you? Are you still playing?”
“I played for my division,” said Glinnes. “We took the sector
Similar Books
