"Harry Harrison - SSR 06 - A Stainless Steel Rat is Born" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

He obeyed with alacrity and soon had this bag stuffed filll as well. And still no sign of the
police. Could it be that not one of the moronic money employees had pressed the silent alarm
button? It could be. Drastic measures would have to be taken.
I reached out and grabbed up another bag of coins. "Fill this one as well," I ordered, slinging
it across to him.
As I did this I managed to get the alarm button with my

A STAINLESS STEEL BAT IS BOBN

elbow. There are some days when you have to do everything for yourself.
This had the desired effect. By the time the third bag

was fall, and I was staggering towards the door with my loot, the police began to appear. One
groundcar managed to crash into another (police emergencies are pretty rare around these parts),


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but eventually they sorted themselves out and lined up outside, guns ready.
"Don't shoot," I squeaked. With real fear, because most of them didn't look too bright. They
couldn't hear me through the windows but they could see me. "It's a dummy," I called out. "Seel"
I put the muzzle of the gun to the side of my head and pulled the trigger. There was a
satisfactory puff of smoke from the smoke generator and the sound effect of the shot

was enough to make my ears ring. I dropped behind the counter, away from their horrified gaze. At
least there would be no shooting now. I waited patiently while they shouted and cursed and finally
broke down the door.
Now, you might find all of this puzzlingтАФif so I do not blame you. It is one thing to hold up
abank, another thing still to do it in such a manner that you are sure to be caught. Why, you
might ask, why be so foolish?
I'll be happy to tell you. To understand my motives you have to understand what life is like on
this planetтАФwhat

my life has been like. Let me explain.
Bit 0' Heaven was founded some thousands of years ago by some exotic religious cult, which has
happily since vanished completely. They came here from another planet;

some say it was Dirt or Earth, the rumored home of all mankind, but I doubt it. In any case,
things didn't work out too well. Maybe the endless labors were too much for themтАФthis was
certainly no picnic-world in the early days. As the teachers at school remind us as often as they
can, particularly when they tell us how spoiled the young folk

are these days. We manage not to tell them that they must be spoiled as well because certainly
nothing has changed here in the last thousand years.
In the beginning, sure, it must have been rough. All of

A STAINLESS STEEL RAT IS BORN

the plantlife was pure poison to human metabolisms and had to be cleared away so edible crops