"Williamson, Jack - 02 - The Humanoid Touch" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williamson Jack)

"Magic!" His sad voice fell. "That's how it seemed to us. Unbelievable at first, floating in that rosy splendor. The human-oids swarmed all around us like little black ants while they were building it. They never sleep. Never rest. Never make a sound. Don't have to speak, because each unit knows all that any other has ever learned.

"In just a few days, they were ready to move us in. At first, I guess, most of us were glad enough to go, because it looked so grand and wonderful. Because the humanoids still seemed so quick and kind, so eager to do everything for everybody.

"But Vorn never trusted them. He stayed down at the pad, working to convert the fusion engine for our own power plant. Kept a few others with him. When the humanoids invited them into the city, he said they weren't moving. The humanoids said they had to."

Brong shook his head and sipped his drink, remembering.

"Vorn told them he and his people would make their own way. The humanoids were always polite, but they answered that fusion energy was too dangerous for men. They were very mild and very kind, but they came swarming in to dismantle the fusion plant.

"At the last second, Vorn blew it up. Only a boiler, but still big enough to kill Vorn and most of his friends. They made the right choice, Shipman."

Brong blinked solemnly at him.

"Because that fantastic city turned out to be a padded prison, where nothing at all was allowed. Love itself was regulated, because sex can overtax the heart. Most of the inmates had to be drugged to make them think they were happyЧthe humanoids do have remarkable drugs.

"That's the story, Shipmate." Brong peered forlornly up at Nurse Vesh, holding his mug to be refilled. "The sorry tale I've brought back to Crewman Kyrone."

"There's one more thing he'll want to know." She was pour-nag more tisane. "How did you get back?"

Brong's small body froze for an instant, as rigid as his face. "I'd seen enough of the humanoids." He squinted into the mug and set it carefully aside. "Vorn's explosion had wrecked a hundred of the little devils, and shaken up the rest. In the confusion, I got back aboard the lander. Blasted off before they could stop me. A long flight back home. But here I am, Shipmate. Here I am!"

When his father came, Brong darted to meet him at the door. His father stopped and gasped and stared, not saying anything.

"Well, Crewman." Brong offered his golden hand. "I see you didn't expect me."

With a hoarse, angry sound, his father waved the hand aside. His face was stiff and strange, the scar growing slowly white.

"You- You can't be here!"

"Yet here I am." Brong couldn't smile, but his voice seemed queerly pleased. "Here to say you're right about the humanoids. I've seen them, Crewman, and the sort of world they want to make. A very peculiar sort of hell."

"I never liked to trust you." His father nodded grimly. "But I'll hear what you want to say."

"I thought you would." Brong squinted at him, nodding. "Even if we were never friends."

They went back to that locked room. Listening outside till Nurse Vesh scolded him away, he heard their voices growing sharper and louder. After a long tune they came out again, muttering and scowling, to call Vorn's brother on the living-room holo.

Admiral Torku Vorn was a Bridgeman and a fleet director. He was busy now in conference, the girl said, and she couldn't Interrupt htm. When Brong waggled his gold hands and told her he had been aboard the Kyrone, she changed her mind.

The Admiral looked like his brother, but younger and broader and stronger. His face was heavy and red and watchful, a game-player's face that showed no expression at all while Brong repeated his story. Then he smiled. A warm, wide smile.

"A great tale, Bosun, but a few points puzzle me." His friendly voice was almost apologetic. "We've had no report of any lander returning from the Kyrone."

"I failed to reach the spacedeck, sir." Brong hunched down, very tiny in his shaggy winter gear, squinting at the holo. "Crashed on a Darkside ranch. Hiked out to a tubeway station."

"Could be." The Admiral nodded quietly. "But I helped

design those landers. Their normal operating range is only orbit to planet, not star to star." His blue-gray eyes were wide and mild. "Bosun, you didn't come back in any lander. Not from the Dragon."