"David Gerrold - Chtorr 4 - A Season For Slaughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gerrold David)

Chtorr (kt├┤r), n. 1. The planet Chtorr, presumed to exist within 30 light-years of
Earth. 2. The star system in which the planet occurs, presently unidentified. 3. The
Chtorran ecology; the living system comprised of all the processes and particles of
the Chtorran ecology. 4. In formal usage, either one or many members of the ruling
species of the planet Chtorr. Obsolete. (See Chtor-ran) 5. The glottal chirruping cry
of a Chtorran gastropede.
Chtorran (kt├┤r in), adj.
1. Of or relating to either the planet or the star system, Chtorr. 2. Native to Chtorr.
n. 1. Any creature native to Chtorr. 2. In common usage, a member of the primary
species of Chtorr, the worm-like gastropede. (pl. Chtor-rans)
-The Random House Dictionary of the English Language Century 21 Edition,
expanded.

There are two facts you need to know about the Chtorran ecology:
1) It has grown beyond our ability to investigate and understand; it is therefore
also beyond our ability to contain or destroy.
2) It is unstable.
тАФThe Red Book,
(Release 22.19A)
 Chapter 1
The Stench
"Ninety percent of success is just growing up."
-SOLOMON SHORT


We smelled it long before we saw it.
The stench came rolling over the hills like a force of nature. I thought of great
billowing thunderclouds of microscopic particles. I thought of corrosive chemicals
attacking my bronchi, bizarre molecules bonding to enzyme sites in my bloodstream
and liver. I thought of tiny alien creatures setting up housekeeping in my lungs. I
thought of emigrating to the moon. Anything to be away from here.
The smell was almost a visible presence, and it was strong enough to knock down
a house. Even filtered through the hoods, it was intolerable. It smelled like everything
bad in the world, all in one place and distilled down to its most horrible essence. It
smelled like putrefaction in a perfume factory. It smelled like day-old vomit and
burning sulfur, swamp gas and rotten cheese. It smelled like worms and lawyers and
last year's politics.
"Hooa! Lordy! What is that?" hollered one of the Texas boys. "Did we hit a
skunk?"
"Smells more like lawyer."
"What's the difference?"
"Nobody wants to hit a skunk."
"Welcome to Mexico," said somebody in the back. "Land of a thousand exciting
adventures."
"Cap'n," asked one of the new kids. "You ever smelled anything like that before?"
Before I could speak, the same voice in the back replied nastily, "It's the barrio.
This is the largest one in the world. They all smell like that."
"Only until we flush the gringos out." I recognized Lopez's softly accented voice.
"It's the leftover mayonnaise and white bread you're smelling."
"Cool it," I said. "You've got more important things to worry about. A smell like