"Harry Harrison - Planet Of No Return" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

him. And we know exactly what that killing machine did to Hartig. If you don't
mind, I don't really want to go the way they went.

43

44

PLANET OF NO RETURN

It's personal survival, not suicide that I'm thinking about. Before you make a
decision I want you to consider two simple facts. Do you remember how Hartig
died? The war machine came straight at him, targetted onto him by his radio or
his weaponry. It detected him and destroyed him. Am I right?" "So far," Lea
said. "Is that fact number one?" "It is. Hartig was detected and destroyed.
Fact two are the animals. You will remember that Hartig described them just
after he landed. In the distance, bounding away."

"And the relevance of these two pieces of information?" Carver asked.

"It's obvious," Lea told him. "The animals were alive and unbothered by the
war machines. While Hartig was killed by them. So nature boy here is going to
become an animal and prowl around on foot to sniff out the situation."

"That's insanity," Carver said. "I cannot permit

it."

"You cannot stop it. Your responsibility ended when you got us here. I'm in
command of the operation now. Lea stays with the lifeship in orbit. I land by
myself."

"I take back what I said," Lea told them. "It's a sound plan. At least for a
Winner of the Twenties." She saw Carver's blank gaze and laughed. "They
couldn't have briefed you very well. Carver, if you didn't know that Brion is
a world-wide hero. His home planet—which is one of the most uncomfortable in
the galaxy—has an annual competition that is not only physical but mental.
Twenty different events—everything from fencing to poetry composition, weight-
lifting to chess. It must be the most

D-Day Minus One

45

grueling contest that ever existed, an exhausting demonstration of both
physical and intellectual skills. You can ask Brion the details, but the
result is an incredible sporting event that has only a single Winner at the
end of the year's contests. Can you imagine a year-long athletic contest in
which everyone on a planet participates? If you can absorb that—just think
what the single victor of that contest must be like. If your imagination balks
at that—why then just look at Brion here. He is one of those Winners. Whatever