"Ardath Mayhar - Khi to Freedom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mayhar Ardath)

other people. Just others.
IтАЩd better make it clear that the Ginli were not looking for other
intelligent life in this galaxy. On the contrary, they were looking as hard as
they (and we) could manage for evidence that only Primates, in all the
worlds and all the galaxies, are truly and basically rational, thinking
creatures. And as we Scouts constantly run across highly developed
civilizations on worlds tenanted by ursinoids, felines, and even reptiles,
that makes our job harder than necessary. WeтАЩve learned, every Scout
among us, to delete evidence that goes counter to Ginli goals, no matter
how important our discoveries may seem to us. Better that than
brain-train, believe me.
Anyway, I found myself entirely too antsy to do any of the normal things
one does when bored stiff, so I waited my chance and slid through one of
the irising portals that separates the living and working portion of the
ship from the labs and specimen-pens. IтАЩd wanted to get in there since my
first Scout. The Ginli had kept me too busy to do anything about it, until
now. That was a major error on their part, as it turned out.
IтАЩd followed a gray uniform (they wore that shade to match their skins)
to the portal, then melted into the wall and waited. Ginli are not a
noticing people, among many other flaws of physique and character, and
poor Twenty-Six (they think names are effete frills) never realized that
passageway walls donтАЩt have mansized lumps in them. He turned, when
the hissing of the opening began, and I was right up against his back when
he stepped through. Even then I almost got caught in the closing petals.
It looked just like the rest of the ship, gray corridors with dim
light-strips set so far apart that the light was no brighter than a planetary
twilight. The Ginli are famous for their thrift. Round-topped hatchways
lined both sides of the way, all closed except one. As Twenty-Six went into
that one, I padded on down the passage, trying pressure-locks on my right.
I figured that IтАЩd catch those on my left as I returned. My plan went
slightly astray, though, when the portal at the other end of the section
began to hiss. Somebody was coming through from that end, and it would
be a big-wig for sure. Only they had access to the area beyond that point,
as I knew from my researches into the shipтАЩs plans in the library.
I then had one of my most inspired ideas. That end of the corridor was
even dimmer than the rest of it, for the light-strip had burned out and
hadnтАЩt yet been replaced. I rushed to the wall beside the closure and
flattened myself against it, as IтАЩd done before.
Just in time. Six, the commander of this vessel, stepped through. Just
behind him was Ten, who was in charge of all the specimens. He was
saying something to Six, very urgently, but I was so intent on getting
through that opening without being seen that I paid no attention to his
words. And I did get through, scooting between him and the iris with
exquisite timing.
This was just another Ginli corridor, and I had begun moving along it,
trying pressure-locks, when the hissing behind me told me that either Six
or Ten was returning. And at the same moment a lock responded to my
touch, opening into the kind of small space that should have been a
storage-room. I went through like a greased eel and pulled the door to
behind me. My heart was thumping uncomfortably, and I sat down on