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

something to catch my breath. A Scout, who has made his solitary way
through the most perilous of places, shouldnтАЩt be so shaken by the chance
of being caught doing something forbidden by the Ginli.
Still, I had always had a creepy feeling about my employers, though they
had always been impeccably correct in their dealings with me. There was
something behind those colorless eyes that hinted at things I didnтАЩt want
to see at closer range. They were heartless bastards, the Ginli, and nothing
in the literature ever tried to say anything different.
As I sat there, almost panting in the total darkness of the little room, I
found myself running my hand along the wall a foot from my right side.
There was a switch there, and I flipped it with enthusiasm. A little light
would help a lot.
There was light, all right, but not in the room with me. The wall wasnтАЩt
that at all, but opaqued glass that was cleared at once by the action of the
switch. I found myself looking into a white space filled with instruments.
There was Ten, in his lab coat, saying something inaudible to Number
Forty, the surgical tech who was seldom seen anywhere in the rest of the
ship. It looked likeтАж and it was, I realizedтАж an operating room. On the
small table that rose between them was a limp shape. It took me a
moment to recognize it. It was a Fleer!
That brought me up short. I had brought the three specimens of Fleer
to the ship. Theirs had been the last world I had examined for the Ginli.
And according to universal law, they had no business poking around with
one of the little beings unless it was ill. The law was quite specific about
examination of specimens. Dissection was a vile memory among all the
rational races we knew, since scanning-machines could give us far better
rundowns on the physical and mental attributes of any living thing than
carving up a dead one ever could.
Ten nodded. Forty picked up a scalpel and ran it along the underside of
the creatureтАЩs arm, deftly avoiding the limp hand with its six slender
fingers. Bile rose into my throat. I remembered the lovely sculptures that
such hands had carved into the rabbit-like creaturesтАЩ warrens. IтАЩd been
allowed to crawl, snake wise, into one complex to see. The Ginli, of course,
hadnтАЩt been told that the Fleer were intelligent beings, but I couldnтАЩt see
that that made any difference. The law made none.
The FleerтАЩs narrow mouth opened. I couldnтАЩt hear its scream, but cold
sweat popped out all over me. ItwasnтАЩteven sedated, and they were
skinning it!
I looked about the room in which I sat. A blocky chair sat beside the one
I had taken. I lifted it and swung it at the glass with all my strength. Glass
exploded into the dissecting-room, shards nicking the two Ginli and
glittering all over the floor and the little Fleer. I was in my regular Scout
garb, complete with innumerable pockets and attachments. I had my
tranquilizer gun in my hand when I followed the glass into the room. A
second later, both Ginli were down, sleeping the sleep of the just, though
neither could claim that title.
The little Fleer looked at me, its eyes glittering in the harsh light. Its lips
moved, and I knew what it was saying when I got a look at its lower body.
They had already partially eviscerated it. I blinked back the tears in my
eyes and broke its neck with one short chop of my hand. If I had had one