"Judith Merril - Pioneer Stock" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merril Judith)

pleasant. But equally pleasant seemed the consolations of solitude.
Lescur was of a different breed entirely. He had been married a considerable time before he left
Earth, and his eldest child was four, the youngest a babe in arms. By the time the next rocket
cameтАФalmost eighteen months after the one that had brought both menтАФhe was tired of living alone,
and had found a pleasant valley rich enough in ore and soil to support his family, and house them in
comfort.
He sent back an urgent message to his wife, asking her to join him, but he knew it would be a long
and weary wait. In fact, the shiny-buttoned rocketeers he talked to in the spaceport all said the next
rocket probably wouldn't come for another two years.
When the ship had gone off, carrying his lonely message, he had followed the crowd to the
freshly-stocked bar at the spaceport, and bumped into his old friend Thatcher. They spent a wet
weekend together, and at the end of it, on George's pleading, Phil came back to spend a few days in the
valley where Leseur meant to build his home.
Thatcher didn't stay long, that time. But he did give the other man a hand with the foundations of the
new building, and even got into the habit of dropping by from time to time to help out with the great
house that was being erected.
As long as there was work to do, Leseur was fairly happy and good company. But stretch the
construction job as he might, by adding a room here and a window there, it was completed in six months'
time, and when Thatcher stopped by to see him after that, he found George so eager for company that
when he left it seemed as if he were breathing easy for the first time in his life. The best part of a year
elapsed before he thought of going back again.
What brought him back was partly the rumor that had sprung up about some girls coming out on the
next ship, and partly George's reminder that it would be easy for him to build another house nearby.
Thatcher was a man who liked to be alone. But he was also a man, and he was beginning to think that it
was time he had a woman he could call his own.
A third reason, was that the peaceful, gentle Dzairdee had lately been showing a different, uglier side
to their natures. They hadn't minded when humans came and took the useless uranium out of the rocks.
There was plenty of wilderness and plenty of rockland, and the two races could get along.
But when other men than Thatcher began to feel the press of desire for women they'd left a world
away, when slender supple daughters of the Dzairdee began to leave their homes and defy their fathers to
answer the temptings of the humans...then the fathers and husbands-to-be of the peaceable primitive
people gathered together, and summoned their savage gods to aid them, and out of their ancient lore
manufactured weapons of great simplicity and great finality...
It was time for a man to build a house and settle into it, and be prepared to snare one of the women
who might come. So Thatcher went back to Leseur's place, and the first thing he thought of when he
hove in sight of it was that Leseur would be a good neighbor to have.
There was a high thick stockade built all around the house now, against possible Dzairdee raids.
Thatcher's next thought, when he came closer, was a joyful one, for he saw that the stockade was twice
as big around as Leseur's own house and yard. Then his joy diminished, for it occurred to him that
perhaps some other man had built there. But when he came up to the gate and shouted, and George
appeared to let him in, he saw that there was space aplenty for another dwelling.
"I've come to build that house, George," he said.
"High time," said George. But there was something wrong with the way he said it.
"I've been a long time away," said Phil. "Maybe you've changed your mind about wanting me as a
neighbor."
"No," said George. "And it's good to see you, man. Come inside. I... well, you'll see for yourself, and
then you may make up your own mind differently."
Thatcher followed his friend across the wide yard, and into the solid house of stone and wood. He
was sure now that George welcomed his coming. But there seemed to be a serious doubt in George's
mind as to whether he'd care for his welcome.