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

let his passion for throwing grenades g the better of him.
"I got something a little better than a grenade, Captain," said one of the other
men. "Midget-sized nuclear bomb. We'll have to back up, though, if we want to
use it."
"We'll try that," said Grayson.
The man moved cautiously to the burrow and planted the bomb. Then they all moved
back. When the bomb went off, the explosion could be felt a half mile away. Dirt
and rocks flew into the air, and with them the two small lizard things.
When the men approached once more, the two beasts had their heads together
again, squeaking away as before. Apparently they had been unharmed by the
explosion.
Grayson looked at his men and they looked back at him, and nobody spoke.
Finally, Fernald, now no longer fingering a grenade, suggested, "There seems to
be nothin' much we can do to those things, Captain. And it would be too bad if
they came after us. Maybe we better leave them alone."
"I'm afraid we'd better. Back to the ship, everyone."
He spoke calmly, but inside he wasn't at all calm. He had been right from the
first, there was danger here, terrible danger. So far, by some miracle, the
little lizards had shown no inclination to harm them. But what if the bombing of
their burrows had aroused their anger?
The next day he learned that the small lizards were not invulnerable.
They had set a trap a half mile from the ship, and when the alarm went off,
Captain Grayson looked at the visor to see what he had caught. It was a big
lizard this time, a member of the A-race. The thing stood on its hind legs
within the smooth hard walls of transparent metal and gazed around it, as if
wondering what had happened. It made no sudden motion, showed no sign of panic.
It simply examined the situation in what seemed to Grayson a very human way.
Something moved at the edge of the visor screen, and Grayson perceived that a
small lizard was inspecting its larger relative through the transparent metal
wall. Half a dozen additional small lizards joined the first, and for a few
seconds they stared placidly at the large creature inside the trap.
Then the large one acted. Its paws swiped at the metal wall, and the wall tore.
A second later the large one was out of the trap, attacking the small creatures
which surrounded it.
The walls must have caved in completely then, for the visor screen blanked out.
Grayson swore in frustration, and then barked, "McGant, Fernald! Get a couple of
men with midget nuclear bombs and come with me! I want to see what's going on
there!"
Two minutes later they were in a 'copter, flying over the place where the broken
remains of the trap lay. McGant looked out and said, "All quiet now, Captain."
"We'll land and look around. You fellows keep your bombs ready for use. They
don't seem to hurt the beasts, but at least they'll blow them out of the way."
As they eased the 'copter off the ground, Grayson sprang out and ran over to
what seemed to be a torn rag. It was what was left of one of the small lizards.
He stared at it in disbelief for a moment, aware that his heart was pounding
with fear. He found it hard to believe.
Fernald said gloomily, "We couldn't make a dent on that thing, Captain, but the
big one seems to have torn it to pieces in no time at all. Absolutely no time at
all."
"What'll happen to us if the big one comes after us?" asked McGant.