"Alan E. Nourse - Peacemaker" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nourse Alan E)

end of the room looked out at the infinity of black starlit space. Far below the engines throbbed, thrusting
the ship onward and onward. The aliens moved restlessly, fear and desperation clinging about them like a
cloak.
In the darkness of the rear of the control room, high above them on an acceleration cot, crouched
Flicker, hunger gnawing at his stomach. He peered down at the flimsy little creatures, studying their
features closely for the first time. ShaLee stood with his back to the instrument panel, facing the others,
who sat or lounged on the short table-like seats before him. A pair of battle lamps sat on the instrument
panel, trained on the two hatchways leading into the control room, and each of the aliens carried a heat
pistol in his paw. They looked so weak, so frightened, so utterly helpless, standing there, that it seemed
almost impossible for Flicker to believe that these were the creatures who were threatening his
people—who were responsible for the draining and pillaging of planets that Flicker had seen. These were
the ones, deadly for all their apparent helplessness. Flicker blink ed, leaning closer and closing his eyes,
soaking in and separating each thought pattern that reached him from the group.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Sha-Lee's thought came through sharply.
"We might be able to manage without the lights, but he got the generators, so that took our radio out
too. We got only one message home, and that was brief—not even enough for them to get a fix on us.
They know approximately where we are, but they'd never find us in a million years. We can't hope for
help from them. We're stuck."
Another one shifted uneasily. "He's out to get us all. And without light we can't find him. We don't
even dare go looking for him—it looks as if he can see in the dark."
"Let's consider what we're really up against," said ShaLee. "As you say, he can see in the dark, and
we've got darkness here. That's point number one. Number two, he's quiet as a mouse and fast as the
-wind. When he got To-may in the grain-storage vault, he came and went so fast I didn't even know
what had happened before he was gone. Number three, he's acquainted with spaceships, and with the
lights gone he's more at home on this ship than we are. Wherever he came from, he's no primitive. He's
got a mind that doesn't miss a trick."
"But what does he want?" Jock toyed with his heat pistol nervously. "What was he doing when we
found him out there ? He was nearly frozen to death—"
"—or seemed to be! Motive? It might be anything, or nothing at all. Maybe he's just hateful. The
point is, there's one thing he can't do, unless he's really got some technology, and that may be our way
out."
"Which is?"
"I doubt if he can be in two places at one time. Or three. There are five of us here, and some of us
have to get home to tell about this. This could be death to our exploratories. Certainly we don't dare to
take him home with us alive, but we'd have to find him to kill him, and he'd get us first. Now here's a plan
we might be able to put across. Two of us should stay with the ship, myself and one other. The other
three take lifeboats, and get out now. We approach within lifeboat range of Cagli in about an hour. The
Caglians won't be happy to see you, but they won't hurt you, and you can bluff your way to a radio.
Maybe the two of us here can keep him off until you get help. At any rate, I hope we can."
Flicker lost track of their thoughts as the information integrated in his mind. A chill went through him,
driving out even the gnawing hunger for a moment. If they got off in lifeboats, they'd get help, and the
mission would really be lost, irreparable damage done. He had to prevent them from making any contact
with their home. This ship was a freighter; freighters were slow. Any culture as advanced as theirs would
have ships—fast ships—to overtake slow old freighters
Quickly and silently Flicker slipped over toward the hatch. The lamp shown on it full, but the aliens
weren't watching. Like a shadow he flashed through the hatch and down the corridor. There he paused,
for a fraction of a second, and listened.
No thoughts, no alarm. Flicker felt a wave of contempt. They hadn't even seen him.
At the top of the ladder Flicker crouched and waited. The meeting below was breaking up; he heard
a hatchway clang, followed by the muffled pounding of their heavy feet as two of the aliens started down