"Dragon Army" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrison William)

Dragon Army

FRANK NEWELL was still excited when he heard the beeping of the radio signal at
his belt. He put aside the seeds on which he had been working and threw the
switch that brought him Bulkley's voice. The man sounded anxious, amusingly so.
You might have thought there was real danger. "Newell! You all right?"
Newell tried to keep the excitement out of his own voice. No use betraying his
discovery too soon. No sense in giving Bulkley time to start his crafty mind
going, to make plans for a double-cross. He said, "I'm fine. How are you? How
are all the relatives?"
"Don't try to be funny, Newell." That crack about the relatives must have hurt,
to judge from the savage anger in the man's tones. It emphasized his isolation,
his desperate loneliness. "A minute ago I was feeling sorry for you. Don't make
me want to break your neck myself."
"No, that would be dangerous, wouldn't it?"
"That last fall of trees didn't come close to you?"
"I wasn't among the trees. I was in a cleared area."
"You've got more sense than I thought." He could detect the relief in the man's
voice. "For a while I thought you might have been caught. I thought I might beЧ"
"Can't lose me, Bulkley. It's sweet of you to worry, though. How'd you spare the
time from watching that dancer on television?"
"Being funny again, Newell? You know that I don't watch television during the
day."
"Thought you just sat there and stared at the screen, mooning about her."
"Newell, if you weren't so important to meЧ"
"Sure, I know how much you think of me. Anyway, my dear friend, I'm alive. Alive
and kicking. I'll be back in two hours."
And with something to tell you, he added to himself. Something that'll give you
the kind of hope you haven't had in a long time. We're no pals, we hate each
other's guts, but all the same we're in this for another three months, at
leastЧif we live that long.
It's a big if, he thought, as he turned back to the seeds. This beautiful
planet, so quiet and peaceful now, is a death trap. It's a planet where danger
lies in wait. That's why Bulkley and I have been exiled here.
He thought back. How long have we been there together? Why, it's no more than
six months in all. Imagine that, only six months! It feels like a lifetime. But
six months with Bulkley would be a lifetime anywhere.
The man never fooled me, he reflected with gloomy pride. I hated him from the
beginning, although not the way I've come to hate him now. That's because I've
come to realize what he's done to me. That night when the truth struck meЧthat's
the time I needed self-control. That was the time when the desire to avenge
myself, to kill, surged over me, almost overpowered me. But it would have left
me alone here, alone on this damned and beautiful planet.
So I kept my feelings under control and, after a time, they changed. My hatred
for Bulkley is deeper now. But it's become a cold, calculating hatred. Some day
I'm going to have my revenge. But not yet. Now we have to work together, protect
each other as if there were the greatest bond of affection between us. We need
each other too much for either of us to let the other die.

BROTHERLY love, he thought. Brotherly love, just like Cain and Abel in the