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

He slept well, too well. In the middle of the night he was awakened by the
hoarse scream of a man in terror.

THE BOOBY trap had worked. He flashed on the light. On the floor was a gun and a
length of rope. Standing in the doorway was Bulkley, writhing desperately in the
grip of long brown arms that hugged his neck with deadly affection, tightened
around his body, twisted around his legs. The arms were attached to no body of
their own. They hung loose in the air, like the snakes which on this planet did
not exist.
It was not good to see a man so terrified, even a man like Bulkley, whose
intentions were so obviously murderous. Newell felt a little sick at the sight.
The arms around the neck twisted tighter, and the screams became hoarser and
more strangled. Newell realized that in another minute the man would lose
consciousness.
He pressed the button of one of his research flashlights. A strong invisible
pencil of infrared lanced out at the brown arms. They froze into immobility.
He said quietly, "They won't get any tighter, Bulkley. Not unless you start them
up again by trying to escape."
The other man was deadly still. Not a muscle seemed to move, although he could
not keep an artery in his neck from twitching, and his sweat glands were
overstimulated by fear. His face glistened in the dim light like the surface of
a sheet of water.
Newell said with contempt, "I thought you'd try to do that. You probably caught
the others asleep too. It's too bad for you that my own ropes were a little more
alert than yours."
Terror found a voice. Bulkley said hoarsely, "Let me out of these damned
things."
"No, my friend. I don't trust you out of them. They're one of the native plants
I've been working with for the past few months. Ordinarily they're harmless, but
I've learned how to control them, and to defend myself with them. And I'm
defending myself now."
Bulkley stammered, "Let me out. I can't breathe."
"That's hardly something for me to worry about. However, I will loosen them a
bit. But I don't intend to remove them, Bulkley. From now on, they stay on you,
day and night, until you're no longer in a position to harm me. You may be glad
to know that they respond to sudden motions, and if you try any more of your
tricks, they'll strangle you for good."
"I won't try anything. Just let me out!"
Newell altered the wave-length emitted in the light pencil, and gave the brown
arms a carefully regulated dose of the differently colored infrared. The arms
seemed to relax slightly and he heard the long gasping intake of breath from the
other man.
"That should let you move around more freely. Now, I think, we'd better get some
more sleep."
The man staggered out toward his own room. Newell lay down on his bed again, and
this time he slept till morning.

THE PLANET had an approximately twenty-five-hour day, and the nights during the
present season were long. When he finally arose, Newell felt rested and pleased
with himself. He could hardly say as much for his fellow exile, who was still