"Balance Ecology by James H. Schmitz" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nebula Awards)

Next is a farm story, if you likebut this is no ordinary farm.
Under the bucolic surface of this tale of another planet, with its
consistent and beautifully worked out details, there is a tricky
problem, about which I will give you one or two hints;
Ecology is something human beings can adapt to suit their own
purposes; right? But human beings in an environment are part
of its ecology . . .
Or: if an experimental animal alters its responses in order to
get food from the experimenterwho is conditioning whom?

BALANCED ECOLOGY

James H. Schmitz
The diamondwood tree farm was restless this morning, llf
Cholm had been aware of it for about an hour but had said
nothing to Auris, thinking he might be getting a summer fever
or a stomach upset and imagining things and that Auris would
decide they should go back to the house so llf's grandmother
could dose him. But the feeling continued to grow, and by now
llf knew it was the farm.
Outwardly, everyone in the forest appeared to be going
about their usual business. There had been a rainfall earlier in
the day; and the tumbleweeds had uprooted themselves and
were moving about in the bushes, lapping water off the leaves.
llf had noticed a small one rolling straight towards a waiting
slurp and stopped for a moment to watch the slurp catch it. The
slurp was of average size, which gave it a tongue-reach of
between twelve and fourteen feet, and the tumbleweed was
already within range.
The tongue shot out suddenly, a thin, yellow flash. Its tip
flicked twice around the tumbleweed, jerked it off the ground
and back to the feed opening in the imitation tree stump within
which the rest of the slurp was concealed. The tumbleweed
said "Oof!" in the surprised way they always did when
something caught them, and went in through the opening.
After a moment, the slurp's tongue tip appeared in the opening
again and waved gently around, ready for somebody else of the
right size to come within reach.
llf, just turned eleven and rather small for his age, was the
right size for this slurp, though barely. But, being a human boy,
he was in no danger. The slurps of the diamondwood farms on
Wrake didn't attack humans. For a moment, he was tempted to
tease the creature into a brief fencing match. If he picked up a
stick and banged on the stump with it a few times, the slurp
would become annoyed and dart its tongue out and try to knock
the stick from his hand.
But it wasn't the day for entertainment of that kind. llf
couldn't shake off his crawly, uncomfortable feeling, and while
he had been standing there, Auris and Sam had moved a couple