"Russell, Eric Frank - Symbiotica" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

lair, but they didn't care a hoot. They knew McNulty
couldn't do much more than lecture them and enter it in
the log disguised as a severe reprimand.

This bush stood between twelve and fifteen feet high, had
a very thick mass of bright green foliage at the top of a thin,
willowy trunk. One of the pair approached it a couple of
yards ahead of the other, flung a pebble at the bush, struck
it fair and square in the middle of the foliage. What
happened next was so swift that we had difficulty in
following it.

The pebble crashed amid the leaves. The entire bush
whipped over backwards as if its trunk were a steel spring. A
trio of tiny creatures fell out at the limit of the arc, dropped
from sight into herbage below. The bush whipped forward
in a return swipe then stood precisely as before, undisturbed
except for a minute quivering in its topmost branches.

But the one who'd flung the stone now lay flat on his
face. His companion, three or four paces behind, had
stopped and was gaping like one petrified by the utterly
unexpected.

"Hey? " squawked Brennand. "What happened there?"

Outside, the man who had fallen suddenly stirred, rolled
over, sat up and started picking at himself. His companion
got to him, helped him pick. Not a sound came into the
ship, so we couldn't hear what they were talking about or
the oaths they were certainly using.

The picking process finished, the smitten one came
unsteadily erect. His balance was lousy and his fellow had
to support him as they started back to the ship. Behind
them the bush stood as innocent-looking as ever, its vague
quivers having died away.

Halfway back to the Marathon the pebble-thrower
teetered and went white, then licked his lips and keeled
over. The other glanced anxiously toward the bush as if
he wouldn't have been surprised to find it charging down
upon them. Bending, he got the body in a shoulder-hitch,
struggled with it toward the midway airlock. Jay Score met
him before he'd heaved his load twenty steps. Striding
powerfully and confidently through the carpet of green,
Jay took the limp form from the other and carried it with
ease. We raced toward the bow to find out what had
happened.