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

a mere solar system and we know how to take care of ourselves.тАЭ
He patted his needle-ray significantly. IтАЩd never seen our plump and amiable skipper look so
tough. He had a most disarming habit of understating his sentiments but, at the right time and in the
right place, he could be a very hard egg.
Nobody though could look half as tough as jay Score who was standing at his side. There was
something about that guyтАЩs firm, solid, statuesque pose, his brief speeches and rapid decisions, and
the fiery eyes glowing in a rocklike face, that gave him an appearance of serene power such as you
see on the phlegmatic features of those unknown gods they dig out of strange and lonely places.
Jay rumbled, тАЬAll right, letтАЩs go in and wait for dawn.тАЭ
тАЬSure,тАЭ McNulty agreed. тАЬTomorrow weтАЩll get some of these mysteries sewed up, whether that
boat returns or not.тАЭ
He didnтАЩt know that tomorrow heтАЩd be sewn up himself along with the rest of us. Neither did
any of us suspect it. Young Wilson wouldnтАЩt have whistled half so shrilly and happily as he
developed his exposed plate had he guessed that it would be lost forever within twenty-four hours.
One of the navigators on night watch first saw the machines. They appeared suddenly and
furtively about an hour before the pale dawn, ghostly shapes skittering around under dying stars
and among the darkest shadows.
 At first he thought they were animals of some kind, probably nocturnal carnivores. But his
doubts grew too strong, he sounded the general alarm and we dashed to our posts. An engineer
trundled a portable searchlight to one of the ports, let its powerful beam probe encompassing
gloom.
At the other end of the beam something big and glittering promptly skedaddled out of the cone
of light. Its evasive action was so swift that nobody got more than a glimpse of it, a vague,
uncertain impression of a tentacled globe encircled in the vertical plane by a rim like that of a
wheel. It seemed to roll on this rim, twisting and turning with astounding agility.
The searchlight could not follow it since the beam was pouring through the glassite pane and
had no room to sweep sidewise. We waited awhile, tense, expectant, but nothing else trespassed
into the bar of revealing brilliance, though we could sense many things moving around just beyond
reach of the rays.
Digging out a couple more searchlights, we positioned them behind two other ports, tried to
catch our besiegers napping by switching the beams on and off at erratic intervals. This method was
more effective. Again we caught a momentary view of the dodging globe-thing as it shot away
from the sudden lance of the third light.
A minute later the second light illuminated a great, trellis-patterned metal arm as it swung
ponderously upward into concealing darkness. There was something big and brutal at the end of
that arm; and it wasnтАЩt a hand. The thing reminded me of a mechanical excavator or steam-shovel.
тАЬSee that? тАЬ bawled Steve. His face was shadowed behind the searchlights but I knew where his
eyebrows were going. Rumour had it theyтАЩd once gone right over the top and halfway down his
back.
I could hear Brennand breathing heavily beside me, and a faint, subtle hum coming from Jay
Score farther up the passage. The searchlights exuded a smell of warm air and warmer metal.
Knockings and scrapings sounded from dead astern. That was our blind spot, full of auxiliary
driving-tubes, and it wasnтАЩt possible to see from inside what was going on. McNulty barked an
order. Two engineers and a navigator beat it up to that end. There was no way of determining the
capabilities of these things outside, but if they were busily detaching our interchangeable tubes,
well, weтАЩd be fastened to that spot for ever.
тАЬTime we made up our minds,тАЭ suggested Jay Score.
тАЬMeaning what? тАЬ McNulty inquired.
тАЬWhether we go outside and meet them or blast off and leave them.тАЭ
тАЬYes, yes, I know.тАЭ McNulty was bothered and a little testy. тАЬ But we still donтАЩt know whether