"Henry Kuttner - The Creature From Beyond Infinity" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

sector, and find a mate for him in the more distant future. From that union
will arise a race of giants equal to the Kyrians. In a sense, you will have
been their foster-father."
Theron sighed and turned his head till his cheek lay against -the bare rock of
the shore.
"May the great Architect guide you, Ardath," he said softly. -
Abruptly his head slum1ed, and Theron -was dead. The gray waves whispered a
requiem. Ardath stood silent, looking down at the worn, tired face, now
relaxed in death.
He was alone, inflnit~ely far from the nearest human being. Then another
feeling came, making him realize that he was no longer a homeless wanderer of
space.
Never in his life had Ardath stood on a world's surface. The others had told
him of Kyria, and on the pictorial library screens he had seen views of green
and sunset lands that were agonizingly beautiful. Inevitably Ardath had come
to fear the black inmensity of the starlit void, to hate its cold, eternal
changelessness. He had dreamed of walldng on grassy, rolling plains. . .
That would come, for he knew Theron had been right. Cycads and ferns would
grow where Ardath now stood. Amphibiae would come out of the waters and
evolve, slowly of course, but with inexorable certainty. He could afford to
wait. -


First, though, he needed power. The great atomic engine of the ship was
useless, exhausted.
- Atomic power resembled dynamite in that it needed some -outside source
of energy to get it started. Dynamite required a percussion cap. The engine of
the golden ship needed power. Solar energy? Lenses were required. Besides, the
cloudblanket was an insurmountable handicap, filtering out most of the
necessary rays. Coal? It would not exist here for ages.
A tremble shook the ground, and Ardath nodded thoughtfully. There was power
below the power of seething lava, enormous pressures, and heat that could melt
solid rock. Could it be harnessed?
Steam . . . a geyser! That would provide the necessary energy to start the
atomic motor. After that, anything would be possible.
With a single regretful glance at the dead Theron, Ardath set out to explore
the savage new world.
For two days and nights he hunted, growing haggard and w~ea1y. At last he
found an area of lava streams, shuddering rock, and geysers. Steam feathered
up into the humid air, and to the north a red glow brightened the gray sky,
Ardath stood for a while, watching. His quest was ended. Long weeks of arduous
work still lay ahead, but now be had no doubt of ultimate success. The steam
demons would set the atomic motor into the operation. After that, he could rip
ores from the ground and find chemicals. But after that?
The ship must be made spaceworthy again, though not for another long voyage.
Such a course would be fruitless. Of all the planets the Kyrians had visited,
only this world was capable of supporting life.
As yet, mere cells of blind, insensate protoplasm swarmed in the sullen seas,
but those cells would develop. Evolution would work upon them. Perhaps in a
million years human beings, intelligent creatures, would walk this world.