"Andre Norton - Time Traders 5 - Firehand" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

His left hand was splayed on the broad surface of the boulder beside
him. Deliberately, ruthlessly, he lowered the flaming head of the brand…

Ross sat up, stifling the cry that had shocked him awake. His heart was
still racing from the horror of the dream, and it was several moments
before he could completely grip himself.

Blast those Baldies! Blast every one of their thrice-accursed kind! He
had no trouble facing the memory of that first clash of wills during his
waking hours, but all too often, his sleeping mind seized on the terror and
the pain.

Well, this time, it had been his own fault. If he had been spent after his
morning's exertions, he should have refreshed himself with a swim instead
of stretching out under this tree like some tourist on holiday back on
Terra.

The Time Agent came to his feet and walked down the broad beach
until he reached the edge of the sea. He breathed deeply, letting the clear
air drive out the last clinging shadows of the unpleasant dream.

The scene before him was beautiful, but he studied it somberly, without
any feeling of the pleasure it would have invoked under other
circumstances.

Vivid blue sky merged at the horizon with endless blue ocean, which
tapered to an exquisite turquoise here in the shallows. The water was
warm, perfect for swimming with no even momentary shock of body heat
meeting chill liquid upon entering it. The air, too, was perfect, hot but so
freshened by the constant sea breezes that it never stifled or exhausted.

Everything was perfect on this Hawaika of the distant past. So damned
perfect…

Ross Murdock pressed the scarred fingers of his left hand against his
forehead, but then he took hold of himself. They were trapped, irrevocably,
and here they must stay for the remainder of their lives. He had to accept
that and do what he could to make the best of it, to make some sort of
meaningful life for himself.

He could not! He could and would pull his weight, right enough, but
there was nothing to hold him, absolutely nothing to which he could
devote himself heart and mind, not since he and his comrades, human and
dolphins, had joined forces with the local populace and driven off the
interstellar invaders bent upon the annihilation of all this world's major
life forms.

For an instant, fire stirred in his pale gray eyes. Ever since he had
perforce become part of the Project and traveled back to the dim past on