"Stephen Goldin - Herds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

"Later. I have to make a preliminary report, first." He looked
around and saw the worried concern that was stiK on the faces
of his iff-group. "I'll be all right," he reiterated. And to himself he
thought, How wonderful to have so many others to care for me,
just as I care for them. No wonder that omnivorous race can
act so depraved… they don't have the emotional security that
the iff-group offers.

He chided himself once again for letting personal prejudices
rise to the surface of his thoughts. He was supposed to view alien
races objectively, without imposing his own values on the
observations. He was only glad the Coordinators on the Project
could not read his mind at such times, or they might consider
him less than ideal for the job. Garnna enjoyed Exploring very
much, and he would not care to be retrained.

As though the thought had produced reality, his Coordinator
appeared at that very moment. Rettin iff-Laziel was quite short
for a Zartic, standing but six feet high at the shoulders with a
neck barely four feet long. His large black eyes had a steely glint
in them, indicating a practical, no-nonsense soul within. It was
this pragmatic quality that made him an ideal Coordinator.

"Welcome back, Garnna iff-Almanic," be said perfunctorily. "I
trust you had a pleasant and profitable Exploration."

"I'll leave it up to you as to whether it was profitable," Garnna
replied. "But as for me, it was far from pleasant."

Rettin frowned at this indication of an irregularity in the
mission. "Come to my office," he said brusquely. "You can make
a preliminary report there. The rest of your iff-group is no longer
needed. They may return home."

Garnna said good-bye to his iff-group and told them he would
be home shortly. Then he turned and followed the Coordinator
down the hall to the latter's office. Rettin walked at a crisp pace
and Garnna, only recently emerged from the Exploration box,
was hard put to keep up with him.

The Coordinator's office was no bigger than average— rank
did not have its privileges on Zarti. It consisted entirely of four
walls and a desk. One of the walls held a chalkboard, but the rest
were bare—the Coordinator did not require art or beauty to help
him work efficiently. There were no chairs in the office for the
simple reason that Zarticku never sat. They weren't built for it.

Rettin took a pad of paper from his desk and held a pen over
it in readiness. "You mentioned unpleasantness," he said. "Does
that mean that you found some trace of the Offasü?"