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

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 beтАФ"
"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 meтАФ"
"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 leastтАФif 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 meтАФthat'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 prehistoric story.
Newell began to sort his seeds again. He was a big man in shorts, a thin film of moisture covering his
deeply bronzed skin. The pinkish sun was hot overhead, and there was no wind at all. Only the creeping
plants in the forest crackled from time to time in response to some inner change in their metabolism.
When he had finished with his seeds, his hands almost dropping some of them in his excitement, it
was late, more than time to return to the plastex hut. He put everything in order for the next day's
experiments, and set out for home.
 The forest was still quiet, but once a slight wind arose, and he had a sensation of danger, and an urge
to run. Don't be a fool, he told himself. There's no danger, nothing to run from. He fought down the sense