"G. Stanley Weinbaum - The Best of Stanley G Weinbaum" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weinbaum Stanley G)

'Man, talk about fantastic beings! It looked rather like a barrel trotting along on four legs with four
other arms or tentacles. It had no head, just body and members and a row of eyes completely around it.
The top end of the barrel-body was a diaphragm stretched as tight as a drumhead, and that was all. It
was pushing a little coppery cart and tore right past us like the proverbial bat out of Hell. It didn't even
notice us, although I thought the eyes on my side shifted a little as it passed.
'A moment later another came along, pushing another empty cart. Same thing - it just scooted past
us. Well, I wasn't going to be ignored by a bunch of barrels playing train, so when the third one
approached, I planted myself in the way - ready to jump, of course, if the thing didn't stop.
'But it did. It stopped and set up a sort of drumming from the diaphragm on top. And I held out both
hands and said, 'We are friends!' And what do you suppose the thing did?'
'Said, 'Pleased to meet you,' I'll bet!' suggested Harrison.
'I couldn't have been more surprised if it had! It drummed on its diaphragm, and then suddenly
boomed out, 'We are v-r-r-iends' and gave its pushcart a vicious poke at met I jumped aside, and away
it went while I stared dumbly after it.
 'A minute later another one came hurrying along. This one didn't pause, but simply drummed out, 'We
are v-r-r-iends!' and scurried by. How did it learn the phrase? Were all of the creatures in some sort of
communication with each other? Were they all parts of some central organism? I don't know, though I
think Tweel does.
'Anyway, the creatures went sailing past us, every one greeting us with the same statement. It got to
be funny; I never thought to find so many friends on this Godforsaken ball! Finally I made a puzzled
gesture to Tweel; I guess he understood, for he said, 'One - one - two - yes! Two - two - four - no!' Get
it?'
'Sure,' said Harrison. 'It's a Martian nursery rhyme.'
'Yeah! Well, I was getting used to Tweel's symbolism, and I figured it out this way. 'One - one - two
- yes!' The creatures were intelligent. 'Two - two - four - no!' Their intelligence was not of our order, but
something different and beyond the logic of two and two is four. Maybe I missed his meaning. Perhaps
he meant that their minds were of low degree, able to figure out the simple things. 'One - one - two - yes!
- but not more difficult things - Two - two - four - no!' But I think from what we saw later that he meant
the other.
'After a few moments, the creatures came rushing back - first one, then another. Their pushcarts
were full of stones, sand, chunks of rubbery plants, and such rubbish as that. They droned out their
friendly greeting, which didn't really sound so friendly, and dashed on. The third one I assumed to be my
first acquaintance and I decided to have another chat with him. I stepped into his path again and waited.
'Up he came, booming out his 'We are v-r-r-riends' and stopped. I looked at him; four or five of his
eyes looked at me. He tried his password again and gave a shove on his cart, but I stood firm. And then
the - the dashed creature reached out one of his arms, and two finger-like nippers tweaked my nose!'
'Haw!' roared Harrison. 'Maybe the things have a sense of beauty!'
'Laugh!' grumbled Jarvis. 'I'd already had a nasty bump and a mean frostbite on that nose. Anyway, I
yelled 'Ouch!' and jumped aside and the creature dashed away; but from then on, their greeting was 'We
are v-r-r-riends! Ouch!' Queer beasts!
'Tweel and I followed the road squarely up to the nearest mound. The creatures were coming and
going, paying us not the slightest attention, fetching their loads of rubbish. The road simply dived into an
opening, and slanted down like an old mine, and in and out darted the barrel-people, greeting us with
their eternal phrase.
'I looked in; there was a light somewhere below, and I was curious to see it. It didn't look like a
flame or torch, you understand, but more like a civilized light, and I thought that I might get some clue as
to the creatures' development. So in I went and Tweel tagged along, not without a few trills and twitters,
however.
'The light was curious; it sputtered and flared like an old arc light, but came from a single black rod
set in the wall of the corridor. It was electric, beyond doubt. The creatures were fairly civilized,