"Eric Frank Russel - The Ultimate Invader" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

Kasine thought again, informed, "If I remember aright, we fed him a coated pellet
of sodium and followed it with a jar of water. Whereupon he surrendered his
stupidities with much fuss and shouting. He confessed his purely Quamistic origin
shortly before his insides exploded. " Kasino wagged his head in patronizing regret.
"Unfortunately, he died. Very noisily, too."
"Bet you enjoyed every instant of it," said Lawson. "I was not there. I dislike a
mess. "
"It will be worse when it's your turn," observed Lawson, eyeing the enormous
body.
"Is that so? Well, let me tellтАФ" He stopped as a little gong sounded in the depths
of his desk. Feeling under the rim, he pulled out a small plug at the end of a line,
inserted it
in an ear and listened. After a while he put it back, stared a' the other. "Two
officers tried to enter your ship."

"That was foolish."
Kasine said heavily, "They are now lying on the grounc outside, completely
paralyzed."
"What did I tell you?" commented Lawson, rubbing it in, Smacking a fat hand on
the desk, Kasine made his voice loud. "What caused it?"
"Like all your kind, they are allergic to formic acid," Law-son informed. "It's a
fact I had ascertained in advance." He gave a careless shrug. "A shot of diluted
ammonia will cure them and they'll never have rheumatics as long as they live."
"I want no abstruse technicalities," harshed Kasine. "I want to know what caused
it."
"Probably Freddy," thought Lawson, little interested. "Or maybe it was Lou. Or
possibly Buzwuz."
"Buzwuz?" Kasine's eyes came up a bit from their fatty depths. He wheezed a
while before he said, "The message informs that both were stabbed in the back of
the neck by something tiny, orange-colored and winged. What was it?"
"A Solarian."
His self-control beginning to slip, Kasine became louder. "If you are a Solarian,
which you are not, this other thing cannot he a Solarian too. "
"Why not?"
"Because it is totally different. It has not the slightest resemblance to you in any
one respect."
"Afraid you're wrong there."
"Why?"
"It is intelligent" Lawson examined the other as though curious about an elephant
with a trunk at both ends. "Let me tell you that intelligence has nothing whatever to
do with shape, form or size."
"Do you call it intelligent to stab someone in the neck?" asked Kasine, pointedly.
"In the circumstances, yes. Besides, the resulting condition is harmless and easily
curable. That's more than you can say for an exploded belly."
"We'll do something about this." Kasine was openly irri-tated.
"It won't be easy. Take Buzwuz, for instance. Though he's small even for a
bumblebee from Callisto, he can lay out six horses in a row before he has to squat
down someplace and generate more acid."
"Bumblebee?" Kasine's brows :tried to draw together over thick rolls of flesh.
"Horses?"