"Keith Laumer - Hybrid" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laumer Keith)plantlets without connection to the brain, parasitic to the corpse,
identical to the ancestral stock from which the giants sprang, symbolizing the extinction of a hundred million years of evolution." "Get to the point." "We can take cuttings from the heart of the tree. I have a book--it gives the details on the anatomy--we can keep the tissues alive. Back in civilization, we can regenerate the tree--brain and all. It will take time-" "Suppose we sell the cuttings." "Yes, any university would pay well--" "How long will it take?" "Not long. We can cut in with narrow aperture blasters--" "OK. Get your books, Pantelle. We'll give it a try." Apparently, the Yanda mind observed, a very long time had elapsed since spore propagation had last been stimulated by the proximity of female. Withdrawn into introverted dreams, the tree had taken no conscious notice as the whispering contact with the spore-brothers faded and the hostcreatures dwindled away. Now, eidetically, the stored impressions sprang into clarity. It was apparent that no female would pass this way again. The Yanda kind was gone. The fever of instinct that had motivated the elaboration of the mechanisms of emergency propagation had burned itself out futilely. The new pattern of stalked oculi gazed unfocussed at an empty vista of gnarled jungle growth, the myriad fiaments of the transfer brought a host-creature near drooped unused, the dransacs brimmed needlessly; no further action was indicated. Now death would come in due course. Somewhere a drumming began, a gross tremor sensed through the dead hush. It ceased, began again, went on and on. It was of no importance, but a faint curiosity led the tree to extend a sensory filament, tap the abandoned nerve-trunk-- Convulsively, the tree-mind recoiled, severing the contact. An impression of smouldering destruction, impossible thermal activity.... Disoriented, the tree-mind considered the implications of the searing pain. A freak of damaged sense organs? A phantom impulse from destroyed nerves? No. The impact had been traumatic, but the data were there. The tree- mind re-examined each synaptic vibration, reconstructing the experience. In a moment, the meaning was clear: A fire was cutting deep into the body of the tree. Working hastily, the tree assembled a barrier of incombustible molecules in the path of the fire, waited. The heat reached the barrier, hesitated--and the barrier flashed into incandescence. A thicker wall was necessary. The tree applied all of its waning vitality to the task. The shield grew, matched the pace of the fire, curved out to intercept-- And wavered, halted. The energy demand was too great. Starved muscular conduits cramped. Blackness closed over the disintegrating |
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