"Bester, Alfred - Biped Reegan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bester Alfred)

never be able to reconstruct it, but in my subsequent report you will see that
it is unimportant.
Our troops charged valiantly as the three bipeds came through the cavern.
Reegan, without the metal suit, was especially open to attack, but he moved with
infinite caution, carefully flaming the four sides of the tunnel before he would
advance a step. Despite our every effort he managed to reach the stairs and
mount them.
It was impossible to hold him back once he began descending the slope and we
deemed it wiser to let him return to the citadel of the bipeds, where we could
attack at our leisure. Our troops drew off and Commander-lambda telecast a
message to Spy-zeta and Spy-zeta-prime. All of us caught their response, clear
and calm. Zeta-prime was stationed in the council room of the bipeds; Zeta was
trailing the biped Ivar, in an attempt to ferret out the new weapon he had
spoken of.
The destruction of the machine was a crushing blow to the morale of your
Imperial Maternity's troops. Commander-lambda sent out an inspiring message to
all of us that victory would still be ours. He commanded us to realign in our
old positions along the crest of the sickle of hills and await the arrival of
the red armies from the south.
Meanwhile Reegan had reached the citadel. We all tuned in on Spy-zeta-prime to
see what future developments might impend. The three bipeds rushed up to the
council room, where they were met by the biped Otis and others.
As the biped Dinah removed her metal suit, Otis gasped and stared hard at her.
"A woman!" he cried.
Your Imperial Maternity is no doubt familiar with the anatomy of the male and
female of the species. The bipeds discerned differences in sex by vision. The
biped Reegan, for example, was tall and built in flat planes to the general
outline of a wedge.
The female named Dinah was somewhat shorter and built in curved planes. The
shoulders were rounded, the thorax fuller than Reegan's and divided into two
upthrust mounds. The waist was extremely narrow but the hips were rounded and
almost as wide as the shoulders. Altogether, our research legions believe the
species of biped to be the ugliest lifeform our earth has produced.
SPY-ZETA-PRIME reported tremendous excitement at the appearance of the strange
bipeds and especially at the appearance of the female. Then, as they calmed
down, Reegan spoke.
"Otis," be said, "this is Dinah. Dinah Shaw. If I've acted like a fool in the
past months, it was because I'd thought she was dead."
Otis said: "My God, Reegan, but you're lucky, . . . To find your girl again; ..
. To bring her back from the dead!"
"Not as incredible as you think," the biped named Doctor Elmer Gropper said.
Spy-zeta-prime reported that he was extremely faint, and this was immediately
corroborated by the chamber troops who had been guarding that ancient biped.
"Before I tell my story," Doctor Elmer Gropper said, "you'd better tell me
yours. We've been pent up in that damned cavern for ten months."
"It's a wonder you're both so healthy looking," Otis said. "Miss Shaw actually
looks beautiful . . . "
"You'll understand when I tell you my story," Gropper said. "For that matter,
you've probably noticed by now that all of you are much healthier . . .handsomer
and probably more acutely intelligent. Never mind that. Tell."