"Andre Norton - Astra 02 - Star Born [4.1]" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

made mind touch. The hoppers did not really thinkЧat least not on the levels
where communication was possible for the colonistsЧbut sensations of friendship
and good will could be broadcast, primitive ideas exchanged.
The small animal, its humanlike front paw-hands dangling over its
creamy vest, came out fully into the open, black eyes flicking from the
motionless Dalgard to the bright beads on the rock. But when one of those paws
shot out to snatch the treasure, the travelerТs hand was already cupped
protectingly over the hoard. Dalgard formed a mental picture and beamed it at
the twenty-inch creature before him. The hopperТs ears twitched nervously, its
blunt nose wrinkled, and then it bounded back into the brush, a weaving line of
moving grass marking its retreat.
Dalgard withdrew his hand from the beads. Through the years the
Astran colonists had come to recognize the virtues of patience. Perhaps the
mutation had begun before they left their native world. Or perhaps the change in
temperament and nature had occurred in the minds and bodies of that determined
handful of refugees as they rested in the frozen cold sleep while their ship
bore them through the wide, uncharted reaches of deep space for centuries of
Terran time. How long that sleep had lasted the survivors had never known. But
those who had awakened on Astra were different.
And their sons and daughters, and the sons and daughters of two more
generations were warmed by a new sun, nourished by food grown in alien soil,
taught the mind contact by the amphibian mermen with whom the space voyagers had
made an early friendshipЧeach succeeding child more attuned to the new home,
less tied to the far-off world he had never seen or would see. The colonists
were not of the same breed as their fathers, their grandfathers, or
great-grandfathers. So, with other gifts, they had also a vast, time-consuming
patience, which could be a weapon or a tool, as they pleased not forgetting the
instantaneous call to action which was their older heritage.
The hopper returned. On the rock beside the shining things it
coveted, it dropped dried and shriveled fruit. DalgardТs fingers separated two
of the gleaming marbles, rolled them toward the animal, who scooped them up with
a chirp of delight. But it did not leave. Instead it peered intently at the rest
of the beads. Hoppers had their own form of intelligence, though it might not
compare with that of humans. And this one was enterprising. In the end it
delivered three more loads of fruit from its burrow and took away all the beads,
both parties well pleased with their bargains.
Sssuri splashed out of the sea with as little ado as he had entered.
On the end of his spear twisted a fish. His fur, slicked flat to his strongly
muscled body, began to dry in the air and fluff out while the sun awoke
prismatic lights on the scales which covered his hands and feet. He dispatched
the fish and cleaned it neatly, tossing the offal back into the water, where
some shadowy things arose to tear at the unusual bounty.
УThis is not hunting ground.Ф His message formed in DalgardТs mind:
УThat finned one had no fear of me.Ф
УWe were right then in heading north; this is new land.Ф Dalgard got
to his feet.
On either side, the cliffs, with their alternate bands of red, blue,
yellow, and white strata, walled in this pocket. They would make far better time
keeping to the sea lanes, where it was not necessary to climb. And it was
DalgardТs cherished plan to add more than just an inch or two to the explorersТ