"Gordon R. Dickson - 8 Short Stories and Novellas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

"He's in harness," said Chuck.
"Good." Binichi bubbled again. "No point in putting temptation in my way."
He closed his eyes. Chuck went back to the cockpit, closed the door
behind him, and sat down at the controls. The field had been cleared. He
fired up and took off.
When the pot was safely airborne, he set the course on autopilot and
leaned back to light a cigarette. For the first time he felt the tension in his
neck and shoulder blades and stretched, to break its grip. Now was no time
to be tightening up. But what had Binichi meant by this last remark? He
certainly wouldn't be fool enough to attack the Tomah on dry footing?
Chuck shook off the ridiculous notion. Not that it was entirely ridiculous тАУ
the Lugh were individualists from the first moment of birth, and liable to do
anything. But in this case both sides had given the humans their words
(Binichi his personal word and the nameless Tomah their collective word)
that there would be no trouble between the representatives of the two
races. The envoy, Chuck was sure, would not violate the word of his
people, if only for the reason that he would weigh his own life as nothing in
comparison to the breaking of a promise. Binichi, on the other hand . . .
The Lugh were impeccably honest. The strange and difficult thing was,
however, that they were much harder to understand than the Tomah, in
spite of the fact that being warm-blooded and practically mammalian they
appeared much more like the human race than the chitinous land-dwellers.
Subtle shades and differences of meaning crept into every contact with the
Lugh. They were a proud, strong, free, and oddly artistic people; in
contradistinction to the intricately organized, highly logical Tomah, who took
their pleasure in spectacle and group action.
But there was no sharp dividing line that placed some talents all on the
Tomah side, and others all on the Lugh. Each people had musical
instruments, each performed group dances, each had a culture and a
science and a history. And, in spite of the fantastic surface sociological
differences, each made the family unit a basic one, each was
monogamous, each entertained the concept of a single deity, and each had
very sensitive personal feelings.
The only trouble was, they had no use for each other тАУ and a rapidly
expanding human culture needed them both.
It so happened that this particular world was the only humanly habitable
planet out of six circling a sun which was an ideal jumping-off spot for
further spatial expansion. To use this world as a space depot of the size
required, however, necessitated a local civilization of a certain type and
level to support it. From a practical point of view this could be supplied only
by a native culture both agreeable and sufficiently advanced to do so.
Both the Tomah and the Lugh were agreeable, as far as the humans
were concerned. They were not advanced enough, and could not be, as
long as they remained at odds.
It was not possible to advance one small segment of a civilization. It had
to be upgraded as a whole. That meant cooperation, which was not now in
effect. The Tomah had a science, but no trade. They were isolated on a
few of the large land-masses by the seas that covered nine-tenths of their
globe. Ironically, on a world which had great amounts of settlable land and
vast untapped natural resources, they were cramped for living room and