"Eric Frank Russell - Late Night Final" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

"Fully trained and completely qualified," he growled sar-donically. "Yet he had to
smash up. Another ship and crew lost in the very moment we reach our goal. The
eighth such loss. There will be a purge in the astronautical training center when I
return."
"Yes, sir," approved Jusik, dutifully. "There's no excuse for it."
"There are no excuses for anything," Cruin retorted.
"No, sir."
Snorting his contempt, Cruin looked at his book. "Step five: Make all protective
preparations as detailed in defense manual." He glanced up into Jusik's lean, clearcut
features. "Every captain has been issued with a defense manual. Are they carrying
out its orders?"
"Yes, sir. They have started already."
"They better had! I shall arrange a demotion of the slowest." Wetting a large thumb,
he flipped a page over. "Step ,six: If planet does hold life forms of suspected
intelligence, obtain specimens." Lying back in his seat he mused a mo-ment, then
barked: "Well, for what are you waiting?"
"I beg your pardon, sir?"
"Get some examples," roared Cruin.
"Very well, sir." Without blinking, Jusik saluted, marched out.
The self-closer swung the door behind him. Cruin sur-veyed it with a jaundiced eye.
"Curse the training center," he rumbled. "It has deteriorat-ed since I was there."
Putting his feet on the desk, he waggled his heels to make the bells tinkle while he
waited for the examples.

Three specimens turned up of their own accord. They were seen standing wide-eyed
in a row near the prow of number twenty-two, the endmost ship of the line. Captain
Somir brought them along personally.
"Step six calls for specimens, sir," he explained to Com-mander Cruin. "I know that
you require ones better than these, but I found these under our nose."
"Under your nose? You land and within short time other life forms are sightseeing
around your vessel? What about your protective precautions?"
"They are not completed yet, sir. They take some time."
"What were your lookouts doingтАФsleeping?"
"No, sir," assured Somir desperately. "They did not think it necessary to sound a
general alarm for such as these."
Reluctantly, Cruin granted the point. His gaze ran con-temptuously over the trio.
Three kids. One was a boy, knee-high, snubnosed, chewing at a chubby fist. The
next, a skinny-legged, pigtailed girl obviously older than the boy. The third was
another girl almost as tall as Somir, somewhat skinny, but with a hint of coming
shapeliness hiding in her thin attire. All three were freckled, all had violently red hair.
The tall girl said to Cruin: "I'm MarvaтАФMarva Meredith." She indicated her
companions. "This is Sue and this is Sam.
We live over there, in Williamsville." She smiled at him and suddenly he noticed that
her eyes were a rich and startling green. "We were looking for blueberries when we
saw you come down."
Cruin grunted, rested his hands on his paunch. The fact that this planet's life
manifestly was of his own shape and form impressed him not at all. It had never
occurred to him that it could have proved otherwise. In Huldian thought, all superior
life must be humanoid and no exploration had yet provided evidence to the contrary.
"I don't understand her alien gabble and she doesn't un-derstand Huldian," he