"David Gerrold - Chtorr 1 - A Matter for Men" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gerrold David)

come alive again and slid off down the hill, down to where Shorty and Louis and Larry waited. Their
expressions were strange too, and they wouldn't look at each other's eyes.
"Come on," said Duke, shoving the rifle at Shorty. "Let's get out of here."
I followed after them. I must have been mumbling. "He shot her-" I kept saying. "He shot her-"
Finally, Larry dropped back and took the binoculars out of my trembling hands. "Be glad you're not the
man," he said. "Or you'd have had to do it."
? TWO

I ENDED up in Dr. Obama's office. "Sit down, McCarthy."
"Yes, ma'am."
Her eyes were gentle, and I couldn't escape them. She reminded me of my grandmother; she had had
that same trick of looking at you so sadly that you felt sorrier for her than for yourself. When she spoke,
her voice was detached, almost deliberately flat. My grandmother had spoken like that too, when there
was something on her mind and she had to work her way around to it.
"I hear you had a little trouble yesterday afternoon."
"Uh-yes, ma'am." I swallowed hard. "We-that is, Duke shot a little girl."
Dr. Obama said softly, "Yes, I read the report." She paused. "You didn't sign it with the others. Is there
something you want to add?"
"Ma'am-" I said. "Didn't you hear me? We shot a little girl."
Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I see. You're troubled by that."
"Troubled-? Yes, ma'am, I am."
Dr. Obama looked at her hands. They were folded politely on the desk in front of her, carefully
manicured, and dark and wrinkled with age. "Nobody ever said it would be easy."
"You didn't say anything about shooting children either."
"I'd hoped we wouldn't have to."
"Dr. Obama, I don't know what the explanation is, but I can't condone-"
"It's not for you to condone!" Her face was suddenly hard. "Duke passed you the binoculars, didn't he?"
"Yes, ma'am. Several times."
"And what did you see?"
"The first time, I saw only the shelter and the enclosure. The second time I saw the little girl."
"And what did Duke do then?"
"Well, it looked like he was going to rescue her, but then he changed his mind and asked for the rifle
instead."
"Do you know why he asked for the rifle?"
"Louis said he saw something."
"Mmm. Did you look through the binoculars again to check him?"
"Yes, ma'am-but I looked because I was curious. I'd never seen worms-"
She cut me off. "But when you looked, you saw them, didn't you?"
"I saw something . . ." I hesitated. "I couldn't be sure what it was."
"What did it look like?"
"It was big, and it was purple or red, it was hard to tell."
"The Chtorr have purple skin and varicolored fur. Depending on the light, it can look red, pink, magenta
or orange. Was that what you saw?"
"I saw something purple. It was in the shadows, and it kept moving back and forth."
"Was it moving fast?"
I tried to remember. What was fast for a worm? "Kind of," I hedged.
"Then what you saw was a fully grown Chtorr in the active - and most dangerous-phase. Duke
recognized it, so did Larry, Louis and Shorty. They signed the report."
"I wouldn't know-I've never seen a Chtorr before. That's why I'm here."
"If they said it was a Chtorr, you can be sure it was-but that's why they passed the binoculars, just to be