"Davis, Jerry - Dna Prospector" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Jerry)

other, and kissed again. Gregson pulled back, still smiling, but
she wasn't finished kissing yet. She leaned hard against him to the
point where he almost lost his balance and fell out of the chair.
It was then that they noticed that her brother was yelling, and
that something was happening outside.
They hadn't made it to the door before it slammed open and
Vern came stumbling in, looking deranged. Close on his heals was
Frank, shouting, "What's wrong? What is wrong?"
"Dad?" Bethany said.
He bumped against them, stumbling, shaking, mumbling something
unintelligible. He got down on his hands and knees, crawling under
the table. There he curled into a fetal position, his eyes rolled
back so that they could only see the whites. He was panting and
sweat soaked his clothes, beading his face and making his hair hang
in wet, wiry strings. "It's ... a horrible, a demon ... gonna get
... everywhere ... follows me. I think it's a demon ... can't get
away ... can't ..." He shuddered, falling silent. His children
joined him on the floor, hugging him, telling him that he was safe.
Gregson went into the man's work room, passing the man's
elaborate bio-computer, his genetic assembly/disassembly
peripherals, found a cabinet full of pharmaceuticals and pulled out
some anti-shock tabs. He carried them into the dining room, knelt
down under the table, and placed one of the little white stickers
on the man's throat, near the jugular vein. Within minutes he began
to come out of it. He looked up at Gregson from under the table, a
shade of embarrassment in his expression.
"What was it, Vern?" he asked.
"It was horrible," Vern whispered, shaking his head.
"Overpowering."
"You saw it, then? An animal?"
Vern's mouth moved, but no words came out. When he found his
voice, he said, "Don't go out there. Don't do it."
"You know I've got to."
"Don't do it!"
Gregson turned to leave. Bethany shouted, "James!"
He turned back. "I've got to see what it is."
"It's not worth it." Bethany's eyes were pleading.
He gave her his best smile. "I'll be back."

#

The carnivorous trees looked more like gigantic moss-covered
fish bones than trees. They had an exoskeleton structure not unlike
Terran insects, and the "moss" was a sticky, deadly substance which
paralyzed and slowly digested several species of indigenous birds.
The most common was the flying dodo, which was a big green
bat-winged creature that regularly crashed into obstacles such as
houses, light poles, and carnivorous trees. One was fluttering and
crying out in its final moments as Gregson entered the forest.
He walked for a couple of kilometers before coming upon a