"Edward L. Ferman - Best From F&SF, 23rd Edition" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ferman Edward L)

foreground, the twirling colors of the whirligigs.
"But why this thing?" Crawford asked, pointing to the impossible artifact-plant. "Why a model of the
Earth and Moon? And why right here, in the graveyard?"
"Because we were expected," Song said, still looking away from them. "They must have watched the
Earth, during the last summer season. I don't know; maybe they even went there. If they did, they would
have found men and women like us, hunting and living hi caves. Building fires, using clubs, chipping
arrowheads. You know more about it than I do, Matt."
"Who are they?" Ralston asked. "You think we're going to be meeting some Martians? People? I
don't see how. I don't believe it."
 "I'm afraid I'm skeptical, too," Lang said. "Surely there must be some other way to explain it."
"No! There's no other way. Oh, not people like us, maybe. Maybe we're seeing them right now,
spinning like crazy." They all looked uneasily at the whirligigs. "But I think they're not here yet I think
we're going to see, over the next few years, increasing complexity in these plants and animals as they
build up a biome here and get ready for the builders. Think about it. When summer comes, the conditions
will be very different. The atmosphere will be almost as dense as ours, with about the same partial
pressure of oxygen. By then, thousands of years from now, these early forms will have vanished. These
things are adapted for low pressure, no oxygen, scarce water. The later ones will be adapted to an
environment much tike ours. And that's when we'll see the makers, when the stage is properly set." She
sounded almost religious when she said it.
Lang stood up and shook Song's shoulder. Song came slowly back to them and sat down, still
blinded by a private vision. Crawford had a glimpse of it himself, and it scared him. And a glimpse of
something else, something that could be important but kept eluding him.
"Don't you see?" she went on, calmer now. "It's too pat, too much of a coincidence. This thing is like
a ... a headstone, a monument. It's growing right here in the graveyard, from the bodies of our friends.
Can you believe in that as just a coincidence?"
Evidently no one could. But likewise, Crawford could see no reason why it should have happened
the way it did.
It was painful to leave the mystery for later, but there was nothing to be done about it. They could not
bring themselves to uproot the thing, even when five more like it sprouted in the graveyard. There was a
new consensus among them to leave the Martian plants and animals alone. Like nervous atheists, most of
them didn't believe Song's theories but had an uneasy feeling of trespassing when they went through the
gardens. They felt subconsciously that it might be better to leave them alone in case they turned out to be
private property.
And for six months, nothing really new cropped up among the whirligigs. Song was not surprised.
She said it supported her theory that these plants were there only as caretakers to prepare the way for
the less hardy, air-breathing varieties to come. They would warm the soil and bring the water closer to
the surface, then disappear when their function was over.
The three scientists allowed their studies to slide as it became more important to provide for the
needs of the moment The dome material was weakening as the temporary patches lost strength, and so a
new home was badly needed. They were dealing daily with slow leaks, any of which could become a
major blowout.
The Podkayne was lowered to the ground, and sadly decommissioned. It was a bad day for Mary
Lang, the worst since the day of the blowout. She saw it as a necessary but infamous thing to do to a
proud flying machine. She brooded about it for a week, becoming short-tempered and almost
unapproachable. Then she asked Craw-ford to join her in the private shelter. It was the first time she had
asked any of the other four. They lay in each other's arms for an hour, and Lang quietly sobbed on his
chest. Crawford was proud that she had chosen him for her companion when she could no longer
maintain her tough, competent show of strength. In a way, it was a strong thing to do, to expose
weakness to the one person among the four who might possibly be her rival for leadership. He did not
betray the trust. In the end, she was comforting him.