"A. E. Van Vogt - The Rat & the Snake & Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

their departure. But when he looked back, he saw that the
man was walking in a leisurely fashion along a street.
That was the memory Enash carried with him, as the ship
began to move. That and the fact that the three atomic
bombs they dropped, one after the other, failed to explode.
"We will not," said Captain Gorsid, "give up a planet as
easily as that. I propose another interview with the creature."
They were floating down again into the city, Enash and
Yoal and Veed and the commander. Captain Gorsid's voice
tuned in once more:
".. . As I visualize it"through the mist Enash could see
the transparent glint of the other three bubbles around him
"we jumped to conclusions about this creature, not justified
by the evidence. For instance, when he awakened, he vanished.
Why? Because he was afraid, of course. He wanted to size
up the situation. He didn't believe he was omnipotent."
It was sound logic. Enash found himself taking heart from
it. Suddenly, he was astonished that be had become panicky
so easily. He began to see the danger in a new light. Only
one man alive on a new planet. If they were determined
enough, colonists coud be moved in as if he did not exist.
It had been done before, he recalled. On several planets,
small groups of the original populations had survived the de-
stroying radiation, and taken refuge in remote areas. In al-
most every case, the new colonists gradually hunted them
down. In two instances, however, that Enash remembered,
native races were still holding small sections of their plan-
ets. In each case, it had been found impractical to destroy
them because it would have endangered the Ganae on the
planet. So the survivors were tolerated. One man would not
take up very much room.
When they found him, he was busily sweeping out the
lower floor of a small bungalow. He put the broom aside and
stepped on to the terrace outside. He had put on sandals,
and he wore a loose-fitting robe made of very shiny material.
He eyed them indolently but he said nothing.
It was Captain Gorsid who made the proposition. Enash had
to admire the story he told into the language machine. The
commander was very frank. That approach had been decided
on. He pointed out that the Ganae could not be expected to
revive the dead of this planet. Such altruism would be un-
natural considering that the ever-growing Ganae hordes had a
continual need for new worlds. Each vast new population
increment was a problem that could be solved by one method
only. In this instance, the colonists would gladly respect the
rights of the sole survivor of this world.
It was at this point that the man interrupted. "But what is
the purpose of this endless expansion?" He seemed genuinely
curious. "What will happen when you finally occupy every
planet in this galaxy?"