"Murray Leinster - Exploration Team" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

тАЬThatтАЩs true, too. Also itтАЩs probable that your fellow terrestrials
wouldnтАЩt co-operate with me as they have with you. You seem to have the whip
hand, even with my blaster trained on you. On the other hand, you could have
killed me quite easily after the boat left, when IтАЩd first landed. IтАЩd have
been quite unsuspicious. So you may not really intend to murder me.тАЭ
Huyghens shrugged again.
тАЬSo,тАЭ said Roane, тАЬsince the secret of getting along with people is that
of postponing quarrelsтАФsuppose we postponc the question of who kills whom?
Frankly, IтАЩm going to send you to prison if I can. Unlawful colonization is
very bad business. But I suppose you feel that you have to do something
permanent about me. In your place I probably should, too. Shall we declare a
truce?тАЭ
Huyghens indicated indifference. Roane said vexedly:
тАЬThen I do! I have to! SoтАФтАЭ
He pulled his hand out of his pocket and put a pocket blaster on the
table. He leaned back, defiantly.
тАЬKeep it,тАЭ said Huyghens. тАЬLoren Two isnтАЩt a place where you live long
unarmed.тАЭ He turned to a cupboard. тАЬHungry?тАЭ
тАЬI could eat,тАЭ admitted Roane.
 Huyghens pulled out two mealpacks from the cupboard and inserted them in
the readier below. He set out plates.
тАЬNowтАФwhat happened to the official, licensed, authorized colony here?тАЭ
asked Roane briskly. тАЬLicense issued eighteen months ago. There was a landing
of colonists with a drone fleet of equipment and supplies. ThereтАЩve been four
ship-contacts since. There should be several thousand robots being industrious
under adequate humad supervision. There should be a hundred-mile-square
clearing, planted with food plants for later human arrivals. There should be a
landing grid at least half-finished. Obviously there should be a space beacon
to guide ships to a landing. There isnтАЩt. ThereтАЩs no clearing visible from
space. That Crete Line ship has been in orbit for three days, trying to find a
place to drop me. Her skipper was fuming.. Your beacon is the only one on the
planet, and we found it by accident. What happened?тАЭ
Huyghens served the food. He said dryly:
тАЬThere could be a hundred colonies on this planet without any one
knowing of any other. I can only guess about your robots, but I suspect they
ran into sphexes.тАЭ
Roane paused, with his fork in his hand.
тАЬI read up on this planet, since I was to report on its colony. A sphex
is part of the inimical animal life here. Cold-blooded belligerent carnivore,
not a lizard but a genus all its own. Hunts in packs. Seven to eight hundred
pounds, when adult. Lethally dangerous and simply too numerous to fight.
TheyтАЩre why no license was ever granted to human colonists. Only robots could
work here, because theyтАЩre machines. What animal attacks machines?тАЭ
Huyghens said:
тАЬWhat machine attacks animals? The sphexes wouldnтАЩt bother robots, of
course, but would robots bother the sphexes?тАЭ
Roane chewed and swallowed.
тАЬHold it! IтАЩll agree that you canтАЩt make a hunting-robot. A machine can
discriminate, but it canтАЩt decide. ThatтАЩs why thereтАЩs no danger of a robot
revolt. They canтАЩt decide to do something for which they have no instructions.