"Jean and Jeff Sutton - Alien From The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sutton Jean and Jeff)

legless creature that held its body in a coil before gliding noiselessly
behind the shelter of a rock outcrop. Barlo reflected that to survive, such a
creature must have a deadly defense; consequently, he gave the spot a wide
berth.
Abruptly he halted, a warning screaming in his mind. He twisted to
plunge back into the ravine and almost as instantly decided against it; the
steep walls could prove to be a trap. Shrinking back into the underbrush, he
scanned his surroundings while prowling with his mind. For the moment he
detected nothing. A short distance away several of the feathered creatures
rose from the bushes in evident alarm, winging to a distant tree. The sight
sharpened his anxiety.
The warning came again, more persistently than before, yet gave no
indication of its source. He interpreted a crackling in the distance as a
heavy body smashing through the thick brush. As he scanned the slope in that
direction, one of the long-eared animals darted into view, scampering wildly
down into the ravine. The crashing came in its wake.
Barlo was trying to decide whether to retreat when a huge, dark-furred
beast burst into view from a thicket. Its long pointed jaw suggested a
carnivore. He was appalled at its size. Reaching into a pocket, he drew forth
a small cylindrical tube that had one end fastened into a grip. Holding it
negligently, he kept his gaze riveted on the animal as he probed its mind.
Again there was no suggestion of intelligence.
A crackling came from the brush behind the animal, and a huge biped
burst into view. Its clothed body and the long instrument it carried -- a
weapon, Barlo decided -- marked it as probably the dominant life-form on this
planet. Although not too greatly unlike himself, the newcomer was nearly twice
as tall and more than twice as broad across the shoulders.
Barlo lightly touched the other's mind -- a quick touch in case the
biped should prove telepathic. When the other showed no sign of alertness, he
tapped more deeply, absorbing both the mind's conscious and its subconscious
aspects. Although a brutal mind of low intelligence, it still sufficed to
yield the knowledge and vocabulary that Barlo sought. He was glad that the
creature hadn't proved telepathic, for a nontelepathic world would make his
own detection far less likely.
Man! The biped was a man! Barlo's earlier surmise that the creature
represented the dominant life species on the planet appeared certain; the
sense of lordship over the domain of life was stamped too deeply for it to be
otherwise.
Despite his uneasiness Barlo focused his attention on absorbing the
contents of the mind in detail. At the conscious level it was quite shallow,
nor were the wells of the subconscious much deeper. It was a mind that held
little reasoning and almost nothing of abstraction, yet knew not that it knew
not.
He broke off his study as the dark-furred beast moved forward, pausing
again with one forepaw raised. The beast was a dog. Although it had negligible
intelligence, a strong bond existed between the two, a bond founded on...the
hunt. Barlo shrank deeper into the underbrush as the man moved closer. He was
uncomfortably aware of his own vulnerable position. The hunter kept advancing,
his gaze roving back and forth along the edge of the gully.
As he drew closer, Barlo saw that he had an extremely large nose, eyes