"The Haters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrison William)

and noticed that they resumed talking in low voices when he was out of earshot.
The incident annoyed him, and the next day he himself went out with one of the
hunting parties. The animals had learned caution now, and were in no hurry to
show themselves. One of the men had to flush them out of their hiding places
with a strong ultrasonic beam, which he swept in all directions, and even then
they moved so swiftly that they were not easy to kill. By the time you aimed at
them they had changed color and taken refuge in their next hideout. And then you
had to go through the whole process all over again.
It was an hour before Grayson himself got a shot. When he did let loose finally
it was at a small lizard-like animal only a foot high that came placidly out of
a burrow thirty feet away and stood there, as if oblivious of the irritation of
the ultrasonic beam, examining the men with interest.
Grayson's blast had more power in it than he would have wanted to use on so
small a creature. It caught the lizard full in the middle, and knocked it back.
For a moment Grayson was afraid that he had torn the thing to pieces.
He hadn't. As he watched in amazement, the animal picked itself up, completely
unhurt, and moved slowly into its burrow again.
One of the men laughed uneasily. "You didn't catch it head on, Captain. You just
sideswiped it."
Grayson said firmly, "I hit it head on."
"Besides," said another of the men, "even a glancing shot with that much power
should have killed it."
"It should have," agreed Grayson. "Has anybody here killed one of these things
before?"
"I aimed at one yesterday, Captain, but I missed."
It was Fernald who spoke. Captain Grayson said sharply, "Sure you missed?"
"Not now I ain't, Captain. But I thought so at the time."
"Prentiss," said Grayson, "flush that thing out with the ultrasonic beam again.
I want another look at it."
The ultrasonic beam rose to full power. Nothing came out of the burrow.
Grayson's forehead was damp. He said, "Somebody toss a grenade down there. That
should get it out, in pieces if need be."
They stepped back and Fernald tossed the grenade. Fernald liked to toss
grenades. The clumps of dirt shot up and out in all directions, and left a
hollow a dozen feet across. At the bottom of the hollow they could see the small
lizard looking up at them. It seemed annoyed that its privacy had been
disturbed, but otherwise not particularly upset. Grayson stared at it more,
closely than before. The thing helped him by standing up on its hind legs so
that he could get a better look at it.
The jaws protruded, the forehead receded. It looked like al small-scale,
slightly altered edition of the members of the A-race. "Probably an earlier and
smaller form," he thought. "It must have the same evolutionary relation to the
A-race as monkeys have to men."
The thing looked at him and opened its jaws. Grayson heard the thinnest of
squeaks. Most of the sound, he realized, must be in the ultrasonic range.
Another small lizard popped out of a burrow close by; and disregarding the
presence of the men a couple of dozen feet away, the two things held a squeaky
conversation. Then both turned and moved calmly into the second burrow.
"Want me to open that one too?" asked Fernald eagerly.
"Don't bother." Fernald was too anxious. Better keep him under control, or he'd