"Eric Frank Russell - The Witness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

"Name."
"Winthrop Allain."
"You are a resident professor of zoology, are you not?" in-quired the prosecuting
attorney.
"That is correct."
"You recognize the creature in the box?"
"I ought to. I have been in close communication with it for many weeks."
Mr. Prosecutor made an impatient gesture. "In what cir-cumstances did you first
encounter it?"
An answer to that one seemed unnecessary. The whole world knew the
circumstances, had been told them time and time again with many fanciful frills.
Nevertheless, Allain responded, "It appeared in the zoo some two hours after
closing time. How it got there I don't know."
"It was snooping around, seeing all there was to see, mak-ing mental notes of
everything?"
Hesitantly, "WellтАФ"
"Was it or was it not looking over the place?"
"It certainly saw a good bit of the zoo before the keepers discovered it, butтАФ"
"Please do not embellish your answers, Professor Allain," said Mr. Prosecutor,
firmly. "Let us continue: owing to the great furore created by this strange object's
arrival and subsequent exploits, your keepers had no difficulty in recognising it?"
"None at all. They reported to me at once."
"What did you do then?"
"I attended to the matter myself. I found it a warm and comfortable apartment in
the unused section of the Reptile House."
The entire court along with the cameras peered respectfully at the expert who
could treat such an occasion with such nonchalance.
"How did you achieve this without suffering paralysis, dis-integration or some
other unnatural fate?" Mr. Prosecutor's voice had a touch of acid. "Did you
graciously extend a cor-dial invitation?"
The witness, dryly, "Precisely!"
 "There is a time and place for humor, Professor," reproved Mr. Prosecutor, with
some severity. "However, the court un-derstands that you classified this nightmarish
entity as a reptile and managed to put it in its proper place."
"Nonsense! The Reptile House was immediately available, convenient and
acceptable. The defendant is unclassifiable."
Dismissing that with a contemptuous gesture, the prosecut-ing attorney went on,
"You are not prepared to tell this court by what means you overcame this creature's
menacing pow-ers and succeeded in trapping it?"
"I did not trap it. I knew it was sentient and treated it as such."
"If we can rely upon the evidence of other witnesses," said Mr. Prosecutor, tartly,
"you were fortunate to have any choice about the matter. Why did this caricature
permit you to make the contact it denied to others?"
"Because it recognized my mind as of a type accustomed to dealing with
non-human forms. With considerable logic it assumed that contact with me would be
far easier than with any others."
"With considerable logic," echoed prosecuting attorney, turning toward the
judges. "I ask Your Honors to make espe-cial note of that remark, bearing in mind
that witness has a distinguished status." He returned his attention to Allain. "By that,
you mean it is intelligent?"