"Balance Ecology by James H. Schmitz" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nebula Awards)

of hundred feet farther uphill, in the direction of the Queen
Grove, and home. He turned and sprinted after them, caught
up with them as they came out into one of the stretches of
grassland which lay between the individual groves of
diamondwood trees.
Auris, who was two years, two months, and two days older
than llf, stood on top of Sam's semiglobular shell, looking off to
the right towards the valley where the diamondwood factory
was. Most of the world of Wrake was on the hot side, either
rather dry or rather steamy; but this was cool mountain
country. Far to the south, below the valley and the foothills
behind it, lay the continental plain, shimmering like a flat,
green-brown sea. To the north and east were higher plateaus,
above the level where the diamondwood liked to grow. llf ran
past Sam's steadily moving bulk to the point where the forward
rim of the shell made a flat upward curve, close enough to the
ground so he could reach it.
Sam rolled a somber brown eye back for an instant as llf
caught the shell and swung up on it, but his huge beaked head
didn't turn. He was a mossback, Wrake's version of the turtle
pattern, and except for the full-grown trees and perhaps some
members of the clean-up squad, the biggest thing on the farm.
His corrugated shell was overgrown with a plant which had the
appearance of long green fur; and occasionally when Sam fed,
he would extend and use a pair of heavy arms with three-
fingered hands, normally held folded up against the lower rim
of the shell.
Auris had paid no attention to llf's arrival. She still seemed to
be watching the factory in the valley. She and llf were cousins
but didn't resemble each other, llf was small and wiry, with
tight-curled red hair. Auris was slim and blond, and stood a
good head taller than he did. He thought she looked as if-she
owned everything she could see from the top of Sam's shell; and
she did, as a matter of fact, own a good deal of itnine tenths of
the diamondwood farm and nine tenths of the factory, llf
owned the remaining tenth of both.
He scrambled up the shell, grabbing the moss-fur to haul
himself along, until he stood beside her. Sam, awkward as he
looked when walking, was moving at a good ten miles an hour,
clearly headed for the Queen Grove, llf didn't know whether
it was Sam or Auris who bad decided to go back to the house.
Whichever it had been, he could feel the purpose of going
there.
"They're nervous about something," he told Auris, meaning
the whole farm. "Think there's a big storm coming?"
"Doesn't look like a storm," Auris said.
llf glanced about the sky, agreed silently. "Earthquake,
maybe?"
Auris shook her head. "It doesn't feel like earthquake."
She hadn't turned her gaze from the factory, llf asked,