"Eric Frank Russel - Six Worlds Yonder" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

"Boydell knows the reason." Markham fumed a bit and
went on, "And he ought to state it in precise, understandable
terms. He shouldn't leave a mystery hanging in mid-air like
a bad smell from nowhere."
"Won't he explain it when he returns to his sector head-
quarters?"
"That may be months hence, perhaps years, especially if
he manages to pick up fuel and replacement tubes from dis-
tant outposts. Those scouts keep to no schedule. They get
there when they arrive, return when they come back. Galac-
tic gypsies, that's how they like to think of themselves."
"They've chosen freedom," Leigh offered.
Ignoring that remark, Markham continued, "Anyway, the
problem of Pulok is a relatively minor one to be handled by
somebody else. I'll give it to one of the juniors; it will do
something for his education. The more complicated and pos-
sibly dangerous tangles are for older ones such as yourself."
"Tell me the worst."
"Planet fourteen on Boydell's list. He has given it the
name of Eterna, and don't ask me why. The code formula
he's registered against it reads O-1.1-D.7. That means we
can live on it without special equipment, it's an Earth-type
planet of one-tenth greater mass, and it's inhabited by an
intelligent lifeform of different but theoretically equal mental
power. He calls this lifeform the Waitabits. Apparently he
tags everything and everybody with the first name that pops
into his mind."
"What information does he offer concerning them?"
"Hah!" said Markham, pulling a face. "One word. Just one
word." He paused, then voiced it. "Unconquerable."
"Eh?"
"Unconquerable," repeated Markham. "A word that should
not exist in scout-language." At that point he became riled,
jerked open a drawer, extracted a notebook and consulted it.
"Up to last survey, four hundred twenty-one planets had been
discovered, charted, recorded. One hundred thirty-seven
found suitable for human life and large or small groups of set-
tlers placed thereon. Sixty-two alien lifeforms mastered dur-

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ing the process." He shoved the book back. "And out there
in the dark a wandering tramp picks a word like unconquer-
able."
"I can think of only one reason that makes sense," sug-
gested Leigh.
"What is that?"
"Perhaps they really are unconquerable."
Markham refused to credit his ears. "If that's a joke, Com-