"Jean and Jeff Sutton - Lord Of The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sutton Jean and Jeff)

"Billions upon billions," Zandro agreed.
"And lots of trees and lots of birds." He paused, feeling a great
solitude fill his soul, then blurted desperately, "Why is there only one me?"
The silence came again, so vast and deep that even the gurgling of the
stream seemed to cease before Zandro replied, "There are others like you,
Danny."
"Like me?" He clung desperately to the words, awed by the thought.
"Where?"
"Far, far away. They are not on Wenda."
"Wenda?"
"The name of this planet."
"Not here," Danny exclaimed. A dismal feeling filled his soul, bringing
such a loneliness that he turned from the meadow and rushed blindly back to
the ship, his eyes wet. He was alone!
 He remained in the ship for several days. Too miserable to eat,
sleepless, he stared at the white metal walls. When Zandro sent probing
questions into his mind, he refused to answer. It was then he discovered that,
by concentrating, he could shut out Zandro, leaving himself alone with his
anguish.
Alone! That was how he felt. Trees had trees, and flowers had flowers;
little furry animals lived in the woods, and birds hopped from branch to
branch or flew over the grassy meadow. Shiny creatures with large, solemn eyes
lived in the blue-green stream; they all had one another, but he had no one.
His eyes brimmed at the thought. When finally he returned to the meadow, he
didn't mention being alone; it was too painful. Instead he asked, "Why are
some trees big and others small?"
"There are different kinds of trees," Zandro told him.
"But lots of them look alike, except for size."
"Their ages differ, Danny."
"Ages?"
"How long they've lived."
"Don't they live forever?"
"Not the same trees." Zandro explained how trees came into being, how
they flourished, reproduced, and died, leaving the younger trees behind. Danny
believed it quite wonderful.
"Does the same thing happen with birds and animals?" he asked. "Do they
come from seeds?"
"Yes, but in not quite the same way." Zandro went on to say there were
two kinds of each animal, and that together they brought new life. Male and
female! Danny pondered it, filled with wonder. Life came, flourished, and
passed away. That explained why the tall, pink flowers that grew in the meadow
and sent their fragrance into the air often disappeared for long periods of
time; the flowers died.
"How old am I?" he asked.
"On Wenda your age would be seven and a half years old."
"What are years?"
"The time it takes Wenda to go around the emerald sun. Each time it goes
around is one year. You would be a different age on the planet of your native
sun."
"My native sun?" He whispered the words aloud.