"Chad Oliver - Blood's a Rover" - читать интересную книгу автора (Oliver Chad)

down a protective screen around the newly-cleared field. Conan Lang wiped the sweat from his forehead
and washed his hands off in the clean river water that gurgled through the trench at his feet.
тАЬThat about does it, Andy,тАЭ he said wearily. тАЬToss тАЩem a Four signal.тАЭ
Andy Irvin turned the rheostat on his small control board to Four and flipped the switch. They waited,
listening to the faint murmur of the night breeze off the river. There was no change, nothing that they could
see, but they could almost feel the intense radiation pounding into the field from the patrol ship, seeping
into the ground, accelerating by thousands of times the growth factor in the seeds.
тАЬThatтАЩs got it,тАЭ said Conan Lang. тАЬGive тАЩem release.тАЭ
Andy shot the patrol craft the release signal and shut off his control board. The little ship seemed to
hover uncertainly. There was a humming sound and a spot of intense white light in the sky. That was all.
The ship was gone and they were alone.
тАЬItтАЩs been a long night, kid,тАЭ yawned Conan Lang. тАЬWeтАЩd better get some sack timeтАФweтАЩre liable to
need it before morning.тАЭ
тАЬYou go ahead,тАЭ Andy Irvin said. тАЬIтАЩm not sleepy; the sunrise here ought to be something.тАЭ
тАЬYeah,тАЭ said Conan Lang. тАЬThe sunrise ought to be something.тАЭ
He walked across the field and entered a structure that closely resembled a native hut in appearance
but was actually quite, quite different. Too tired even to undress, he piled into bed with his clothes on and
rested quietly in the darkness.
The strange, haunting, familiar-with-a-difference sounds of an alien world whispered around the hut
on the soft, moist breeze from the sluggish river. Far away, an animal screamed hoarsely in the clogging
brush. Conan Lang kept his eyes closed and tried not to think, but his mind ignored him. It went right on
working, asking questions, demanding answers, bringing up into the light many memories that were good
and some that were better forgotten.
тАЬKit,тАЭ he said, very softly.
Tired as he was, he knew there would be no sleep for him that night.


The sunrise was a glory. The blue-white inferno of Sirius hung in the treetops across the field and then
climbed into the morning sky, her white dwarf companion a smaller sun by her side. The low cumulus
clouds were edged with flameтАФfiery red, pale blue, cool green. The fresh morning winds washed the
field with air and already the young plants were out of the ground, thirsty for the sun. The chuckling water
in the trenches sparkled in the light.
With the morning, the natives came.
тАЬTheyтАЩre all around us,тАЭ Conan Lang said quietly.
тАЬI canтАЩt see them,тАЭ whispered Andy Irvin, looking at the brush.
тАЬTheyтАЩre there.тАЭ
тАЬDo youтАж expect trouble, sir?тАЭ
тАЬNot yet, assuming weтАЩve got this deal figured right. TheyтАЩre more afraid of us than we are of them.тАЭ
тАЬWhat if we donтАЩt have it figured right?тАЭ
Conan Lang smiled. тАЬThree guesses,тАЭ he said.
The kid managed a wry grin. He was taking it well, Lang thought. He remembered how heтАЩd felt the
first time. It didnтАЩt really hit you until that first day, and then it upped and kicked you in the teeth. Quite
suddenly, it was all a very different proposition from the manuals and the viewers and the classrooms of
the Academy. Just you, all alone, the alien breeze sighed in your ear. YouтАЩre all alone in the middle of
nowhere, the wind whispered through the trees. Our eyes are watching you, our world is pressing
you back, waiting. What do you know of us really? What good is your knowledge now?
тАЬWhat next?тАЭ Andy asked.
тАЬJust tend the field, kid. And try to act like a ghost. YouтАЩre an ancestor of those people watching us
from the brush, remember. If weтАЩve got this figured wrongтАФif those survey reports were haywire
somewhere, or if someoneтАЩs been through here who didnтАЩt belongтАФyou should have a little warning at