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

"And you were innocent. Too bad."
"I was a simple-minded scientist. Before this happened, I had been entirely
absorbed in my work. When the accusations against me were first made, I was too
bewildered to know what was happening. It probably wouldn't have made any
difference if I had known. The evidence I needed had disappeared. The entire
Research Bureau where I worked had been cleaned out. The only way I might have
been cleared was by the testimony of the people who were your own palsЧthe
secretary of the Bureau, his assistant, and the others."
"Imagination, Newell. These people were no pals of mine. Especially after they
disappeared, and couldn't be located again."
"Could the reason for that be, my friend, that you dipped your hands in a little
murder?"
Bulkley's face flushed suddenly at the question as a wave of blood swept up from
the neckline. But he didn't lose his temper again. He was icy now, icy and more
dangerous.
"It could beЧ" he said slowly, "Чif that's the kind of imagination you have."
"It is." Newell laughed harshly. "You have no idea. Bulkley, how close you were
to death the night you confessed."
"I confessed?"
"You were talking and cursing in your sleep. I guess that the loneliness here
was getting you, I heard you through, the walls. I opened the door of your room
and listened."
"And you didn't say anything in the morning?"
"I didn't trust myself to speak to you. That was the morning I got up early and
hurried to work before you awoke."
Bulkley said slowly, "I remember that you did act strange for a time. I thought
that the loneliness was getting you."
"Not loneliness. The urge to murder. Yes, Bulkley, it's catching. I think the
chief reason I didn't kill youЧ"
"The same reason I let you live. We need each other too much."

NEWELL nodded. "To keep our sanity, if for no other reason. They put us together
on this planet, out of the way of the great galactic routes, with no hope of
returning to civilization. I don't know whether they figured we hated each other
or not. At any rate, it was a clever method of punishment to leave us here
together."
He stared through the clear plastex window. "As pretty a little planet as you'd
want to see. Food for the taking, and clear sweet water in every brook. Not an
animal in the place, so they didn't leave us weapons. But they were kind to us,
so far as kindness can be consistent with the cruelty of punishment. They left
us books, a television receiver, a supply of raw material for plastex, and a
stock of drugs in case of dangerous virus or bacterial disease. They wanted us
to stay alive as long as possibleЧuntil one of those little accidents happened."

He was silent for a moment, as both he and Bulkley thought of the accident they
had recently so narrowly escaped. Long streamers from the pink sun, a violent
windstorm, the giant trees snapping and striking out in all directionsЧdeath had
been very close that night. It would be close again the next time the winds
rose, and it would never cease threatening from the earthquakes, the damnable
earthquakes that had eventually destroyed every colony that had been started