"Murray Leinster - Propagandist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

that was what the Keimessee, with every other light ship of Earth's space navy, was hunting for. There
was a race which, without known contact with Earthmen, was the deadly enemy of humanity. For years
past, exploring ships from Earth had dropped out of sight with ominous frequency. There had been
suspicions, but no proof of an inimical race which destroyed humans wherever it came upon them. But
six months ago the Earth colony on Capella Three had been wiped out, terribly, by raiders of whom
nothing was known except that they were not human. So somewhere there was a race which held Earth
to be its enemy. It had to be found. If it could not be negotiated with, it must be destroyed before it grew
strong enough to wipe out all of humankind. And the men on the Kennessee knew that they might have
found it on the planets of Masa Gamma. This system had never been explored before, and this
civilization which had space radio might be the oneтАФ

Buck, the dog, dozed lightly on the control-room floor. Little fragments of dreams ran through his half-
slumbering consciousness: the smells in the engine room; an irrelevant fragment of chasing a cat; a
moment or two in which he sniffed elaborately at a

tree ... A slightly louder comment made him open his eyes.

"They've interplanetary travel, sir, at least"тАФthat was Holden. "We've picked up space-radio messages
from definitely between planets. It looks like this is the race we were sent to find."

The skipper nodded.

"It could be. But if they're to be smashed on our report, we need to make sure. That's orders, too. Can
they smash the Kennessee? That's the test for the enemy. If this race can't kill us, they're not the enemy
we're looking for. If they can, they are. We've got to find out."

"But interplanetary travel is good evidenceтАФ"

"It's not interstellar travel," said the skipper. "We'll send a torp back immediately with all the data to
date. But you've picked up no whango waves, Holden. We've no proof that these folk can travel between
the stars. The enemy can."

"They might be concealing the fact," said Holden. "They'd have picked up our whango wave on arrival.
They might be laying for us, waiting for us to walk into their parlor where they can smash us without a
chance to fight back or report. That would be typical."

He stood up and Buck got immediately to his four paws and wagged his tail. His master, Holden, was
going to go somewhere. So Buck was going with him. He waited contently. To Buck, happiness was
going where Holden went, being wherever Holden was, simply soaking in the sensation of being with
Holden. It was a very simple pleasure, but it was all he asked of fate or chance. When Holden petted him
or played roughly with him, Buck was filled with ecstatic happiness, but now he waited contentedly
enough simply to follow Holden.



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"What you say is true enough," agreed the skipper. "They could be laying for us. We'll see. A message