"Eric Frank Russel - Mechanistria" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

тАЬMe,тАЭ said the lizard.
тАЬDid you hear what I heard?тАЭ demanded the flabbergasted Brennand, standing up and staring at
us.
тАЬYou heard nothing,тАЭ put in Jay Score before any of us could reply. тАЬIt didnтАЩt speak. I was
watching it closely and its mouth never moved.тАЭ His hard, brilliant eyes looked into the hole. тАЬIt
was thinking purely animal thoughts which you received teIepathically and, of course, translated
into human terms. But because you are not normally receptive of telepathic thought-forms, and
because you have not previously encountered anything that broadcasts on the human waveband,
you thought you heard it talking.тАЭ
тАЬStick around,тАЭ repeated the lizard. тАЬBut not around my burrow. I donтАЩt like the publicity. ItтАЩs
dangerous.тАЭ
Moving away, Jay picked up the radiophone. тАЬIтАЩll tell them about the bodies and ask if we can
explore a mile or two upstream.тАЭ
He moved a switch. The instrument promptly emitted a noise like Niagara in full flow. Nothing
else could be heard. Changing to transmission, he called repeatedly, switched back and was
rewarded only by the sound of a mighty waterfall.
тАЬStatic,тАЭ suggested Sam Hignett. тАЬTry lower down the band.тАЭ
The radio had only a limited bandwidth but Jay turned all the way across it. The waterfall faded
out, was gradually replaced by an eerie, dithering sound like that of a million grasshoppers yelling
bitter-bitter-bitter. That gave way to a high, piercing whistle followed by another waterfall.
тАЬI donтАЩt like this,тАЭ commented Jay, switching off. тАЬThere is far too much on the air for what
looks like an empty worid. We are going back. Come on--letтАЩs move fast.тАЭ
Lifting the radiophone he trudged rapidly up the bank and over the crest. His mighty figure
looked like that of some old-time giant as it became silhouetted against the evening sky.
He put on the pace, making it a gruelling task to keep up with him, We needed no urging. Much
of his uneasiness had communicated itself to us. Those decapitated bodies ---
 McNulty heard us through, sent for Steve Gregory and asked him to give the ether a whirl. Steve
beat it to the radio room, came back in a few minutes. His eyebrows were tangled.
тАЬSkipper, itтАЩs alive from two hundred metres right down into the ultra-short waveband. There
isnтАЩt room to get a word in edgeways.тАЭ
тАЬWell,тАЭ growled McNulty, тАЬwhat sort of stuff is it?тАЭ
тАЬThree kinds,тАЭ replied Steve. тАЬThere are whistles of a steady and sustained type that might be
direction signals. There are eight different waterfalls of considerable intensity. I reckon they are
power broadcasts. In between all these is an orgy of gabbling which suggests this place is fairly
crawling with life.тАЭ He did more acrobatics with his eyebrows which were of the bushy sort
suitable for such performances. тАЬ CouldnтАЩt get any vision except for typical interference patterns
racing across the screen.тАЭ
Looking apprehensively through the nearest port, one of the government experts opined, тАЬIf this
planet is well populated we must have picked on the local Sahara.тАЭ
тАЬWeтАЩll use a lifeboat,тАЭ decided McNulty. тАЬWeтАЩll send out three men, well armed, and give them
half an hour to look round. They should be able to cover best part of five hundred miles and be
back before dark.тАЭ
Most of us would have liked another lucky dip in the hat, but McNulty nominated the three. One
of them was a government biologist named Haines; the others were engineers holding lifeboat
coxwainтАЩs certificates.
It took no more than four minutes to swing out a lifeboat on its automatic derricks and lower it
to ground. The three clambered in. All had needle-ray guns. In addition there were half a dozen
miniature atomic bombs on board, while a multiple pom-pom stuck its menacing bunch of barrels
through a glassite turret in the tiny vesselтАЩs bow.
That little expedition was adequately armed all right! It wasnтАЩt so much that we really expected