"Mike Resnick - Birthright" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

тАЬNot much, except for the Lemm,тАЭ answered Landon. тАЬWe don't know much about them, except that
they're quite similar to us in one respect at least.тАЭ

тАЬAnd what is that?тАЭ

тАЬThey seek after Empire,тАЭ said Landon. тАЬThey've established bases, artificial islands, on the fifteen
aquatic worlds in question.тАЭ
тАЬWhy should that bother us, if we're after the material from the waterless worlds?тАЭ

тАЬGood question,тАЭ said the Director. тАЬLet me put it this way: How would you feel about an alien power's
establishing itself on Deluros V?тАЭ

тАЬI wouldn't like it much,тАЭ said Nelson.

тАЬWhy?тАЭ

тАЬIt's a big galaxy. Let them look elsewhere for what they want. The Deluros system belongs to us.тАЭ

тАЬThey might be peaceful,тАЭ said Landon.

тАЬThen why are they expansionist?тАЭ said Nelson. тАЬAnd why didn't they ask our permission?тАЭ

тАЬPrecisely,тАЭ said Landon. тАЬWell, it just so happens that we asked permission of the inhabitants of
Gamma Leporis system.тАЭ

тАЬWhat does that have to do with the Lemm?тАЭ

тАЬLots,тАЭ said Landon. тАЬYou see, the ichthyoid population of Gamma Leporis IV is an ancient race, some
four billion years old. Their intellects have reached a point to which Man can never aspire, even in the
distant future. But nature played a dirty trick on them: She made them totally aquatic. No race advances
without technology, and ninety-nine percent of all technology is based on fire. Can't have fire on a water
world.тАЭ

тАЬSo the Lemm moved in and conquered them?тАЭ asked Nelson.

тАЬConquer isn't the word,тАЭ said Landon. тАЬThe Lemm simply set up floating islands, dropped a few depth
bombs that the ichthyoids couldn't cope with or respond to, and demanded that they begin mining their
world and turning the various materials over to the Lemm.тАЭ

тАЬSounds kind of like us,тАЭ said Nelson, not without a touch of approval.

тАЬTo continue,тАЭ said Landon. тАЬIt took us the better part of a year to communicate on even a basic level
with the ichthyoids. They wanted nothing to do with us or the Lemm. The Lemm are a bit more
technological; I imagine we could communicate withthem in a matter of a couple of days.тАЭ

тАЬWhy don't we?тАЭ

тАЬNo need to,тАЭ said the Director. тАЬWe've got a pretty good idea about their potentialities, their science,
and their feeling toward outsiders.тАЭ