"Stephen Goldin - Herds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

crumpled, limp as a rag doll tossed aside for fancier toys. Except
for that face, that purple, bloated face. Its tongue stuck out like a
grotesquerie, the eyes glazed with horror. A tiny trickle of blood
leaked from her nose, down her purpled lips and onto the faded
brown carpet. A finger on her left hand twitched spasmodically
two or three times, then became still.
***

The blue-white world was below him, awaiting the touch of
his mind. Garnna dipped into the atmosphere and was
overwhelmed by the abundance of life. There were creatures in
the air, creatures on the land, creatures in the water. The first
test, of course, was the search for any Offas├╝ that might be
around, but it took only a quick scan to reveal that none were
there. The Offas├╝ had not been found on any of the planets yet
explored by the Zarticku, but the search had to go on. The Zartic
race could not feel truly safe until they discovered what had
happened to their former masters.
 The primary purpose of the Exploration had now been
accomplished. There remained the secondary purpose: to
determine what kind of life did inhabit this planet, whether it
was intelligent, and whether it might conceivably pose any threat
to Zarti.

Garnna established another net, a smaller one this time. He
encompassed the entire planet with his mind, probing for signs
of intelligence. His search was instantly successful. Lights
gleamed in bright patterns on the night side, indicating cities of
large size. A profusion of radio waves, artificially modulated,
were bouncing all over the atmosphere. He followed them to
their sources and found large towers and buildings. And he
found the creatures themselves who were responsible for the
radio waves and the buildings and the lights. They walked erect
on two legs and their bodies were soft, without the armor plating
of a Zartic. They were short, perhaps only half as tall as Zarticku,
and their fur seemed to be mostly concentrated on their heads.
He observed their eating habits and realized with distaste that
they were omni-vores. To a herbivorous race like the Zarticku,
such creatures seemed to have cruel and malicious natures,
posing potential threats to a gentler species. But at least they
were better than the vicious carnivores. Garnna had seen a
couple of carnivore societies, where killing and destruction were
everyday occurrences, and the mere thought of them sent
imaginary shudders through his mind. He found himself wishing
that all life in the universe were herbivorous, then checked
himself. He was not supposed to allow his personal prejudices to
interfere with the performance of his duties. His task now was to
observe these creatures in the short time he had left to him and
make a report that would be filed for future study.