"Marta Randall - Undeniably Cute - A Cautionary Tale" - читать интересную книгу автора (Randall Marta)

Undeniably Cute: A
Cautionary Tale
by Marta Randall
Someone, they decided, had used the place as a prison
planet for pesky savages. There was no sign of putative
jailors but the prison-planet theory explained the
circumstances with the least possible fuss: no direct
evolutionary link to the indigenous hominids, a culture (if it
could be so termed) far too primitive to produce tools,
and, the most telling point of all, no means of
reproduction. The inhabitants, from the most wrinkled
ancient to the callowest adolescent, were without
exception male. And, concluded the crew of the starship
Mellora, three years out of port on an exploratory voyage
and hungry for anything to break the monotony, they were
undeniably cute.
The captain decided on an unscheduled and unreported
landing, set the Mellora down at the edge of a broad plain
in full view of the natives, and be damned to Federation
regulations. They were, after all, on a real-estate hunting
expedition and not hampered by ethnologists,
exobiologists, and other such unwanted cargo, all of
whom came with stiff necks and total ignorance on the
subject of space crews, boredom, and the unhappy
combination of the two. The atmosphere was safe and
fresh, the local sun shone brightly, a sweet lake glimmered
nearby, and the natives, frozen with stupefaction, stood
gripping their rocks and sticks and staring open-mouthed
at the Mellora's roughened sides. The crew didn't want to
wait and the captain didn't intend to make them. Grinning,
arms open in signs of peace, hungry as wolves, the crew
tumbled onto the green grass.
Within two days the Mellora's crew had settled into the
native village and the natives themselves were both
presentable and happy about it. Once the crew had them
scrubbed down and spruced up they looked, as the ship's
doctor admitted from a hammock slung in the shade,
unutterably cute. And frisky. And very obliging.
The natives supplied an endless stream of fresh fruits
and palatable meats; introduced by the chief engineer to
the pleasures of beer, they provided endless, harmless,
and athletic entertainment. The dietician and the cook
together emptied the Mellora's holds of food and
proceeded to create extravagant meals. It was, the
navigator opined, Paradise. The captain, beguiled by a
lithe blond native with, really, remarkable blue eyes,
languidly agreed. The analyst said that it was only logical
to view the natives as pets, since it was, indeed, so nice to
pet them and they, in turn, so nicely petted back. The
Mellora, scrubbed, repaired, and spaceworthy, sat locked