"Anderson, Poul - 1964 Nicholas Van Rijn 02 - Trader to the Stars 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

with a strangely human-like gesture and stalked toward
Torrance.
The captain drew his stunner, pointed it shakily, re-
sheathed it, and held out both hands. "Friend," he
croaked.
His hope that the masquerade might be dropped be-
came suddenly ridiculous. He sprang back toward the air
lock. The gorilloid snarled and snatched at him. Tor-
rance wasn't fast enough. The hand ripped his shirt open
and left a bloody trail on his breast. He went to hands
and knees, stabbed with pain. The Altaian's lasso whirled
and snaked forth. Caught around the ankles, the gorilloid
crashed. His weight shook the cubicle.
"Get him! Watch out for his arms! Here-"
Torrance staggered back to his feet. Beyond the me-
lee, where four men strove to wind a roaring, struggling
monster in a net, he saw the other three creatures. They
were crowded into the opposite corner, howling in basso.
The compartment was like the inside of a drum.
"Get him out," choked Torrance. "Before the others
charge."
He aimed his stuner again. If intelligent, they'd
know this was a weapon. They might attack anyway. . . .
Deftly, the man from Altai roped an arm, snubbed his
lariat around the gargantuan torso, and made it fast by
a slip knot. The net came into position. Helpless in cords
of wire-strong fiber, the gorilloid was dragged to the
entrance. Another male advanced, step by jerky step. Tor-
rance stood his ground. The animal ululation and hu-
man shouting surfed about him, within him. His wound
throbbed. He saw with unnatural clarity: the muzzle
full of teeth that could snap his head off, the little dull
eyes turned red with fury, the hands so much like his own
but black-skirmed, four-fingered, and enormous. . . .
"All clear, skipper!"
The gorilloid lunged. Torrance scrambled through the
airlock chamber. The giant followed. Torrance braced
himself in the corridor and aimed his stun pistol. The
gorilloid halted, shivered, looked around in something re-
sembling bewilderment, and retreated. Torrance closed
the air lock.
Then he sat down and trembled.
Jeri bent over him. "Are you all right?" she breathed.
"Oh! You've been hurt!"
"Nothing much," he mumbled. "Gimme a cigarette."
She took one from her belt pouch and said with a
crispness he admired, "I suppose it is just a bruise and a
deep scratch. But we'd better check it, anyway, and steri-
lize. Might be infected."
He nodded but remained where he was until he had