"Eric Frank Russell - Mechanical Mice2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

There was a small, coffin-shaped thing against one wall, a thing that ticked steadily away
while its lenses stared at us with ghastly lack of emotion. It was very similar to the Robot
Mother, but only a quarter of the size. In the light of a police torch, it was a brooding,
ominous thing of dreadful signifi┬мcance. Around it, an active clan swarmed over the floor,
buzz┬мing and ticking in metallic fury.
Amid angry whirs and the crack of snapping scalpels on steel, we waded headlong through
the lot. Burman reached the coffin first, crushing it with one mighty blow of his twelve-pound
hammer, then bashing it to utter ruin with a rapid succession of blows. He finished
exhausted. The daugh┬мter of the Robot Mother was no more, nor did her alien tribe move or
stir.
Sitting down on a rickety wooden case, Burman mopped his brow and said, "Thank
heavens that's done!"
Tick-tick-tick!
. He shot up, snatched his hammer, a wild look in his eyes.
"Only my watch," apologized one of the policemen. "It's a cheap one, and it makes a hell of
a noise." He pulled it out to show the worried Burman.
"Tick! tick!" said the watch, with mechanical aplomb.