"Robyn Tallis - Planet Builders 1 - Mountain of Stolen Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tallis Robyn)

"Ah," he said, "one of the older worlds. By the time you were born you wouldn't have had to worry
about this sort of thing. But here we have to be very careful about tampering with the basic ecology of
our planet. Other than humanity and its attendant microbes, no alien life forms can be

released without an environmental-impact study."

"Why?" asked Clea. "I don't see what harm growing a patch of peas can do."

Grumps snorted again. "Didn't you ever hear about what happened on Plessius II?"

Clea shook her head.

"It was one of the first worlds colonized. The fools planted a new variety of squash, all excited because it
was so hardy. Hardy is right. It turned out that the growth of the vines was stimulated by unusual trace
elements in the soil, and their resistance to disease was jacked up by a native microbe. The damn things
grew so well it was almost impossible to kill them! And they spread so fast that within three years they
were starting to squeeze out a lot of native plant life—including a certain fern that provided the only
hatching grounds for an insect that just happened to be the primary pollenator for several important plant
species. No pollenation, no seeds. No seeds, no new plants. After that, it was like dominoes falling
down. Those squash raised hell with the entire ecology. Within twenty years the idiots who planted them
had managed to wipe out or seriously endanger over twenty thousand species of plants and animals."

"I see," said Clea, overwhelmed by the image of so much destruction from such a simple beginning.

Grumps snorted and led her into the next dome.

An hour later Clea found herself back in the first dome, trying to separate seedlings so they wouldn't
become too cramped as they grew. She had already broken more than a dozen of the fragile stems, and
was feeling clumsy and frustrated. The fact that when Grumps showed her the job, he had managed to
separate over two dozen seedlings without damaging a single one did nothing to help her mood. She was
still astonished by the tender, almost loving way his stubby fingers had pulled apart the plants.

She tried again and made a little noise of frustration as she destroyed another seedling.
"Having a hard time?" asked a deep, friendly voice.

She looked up and saw Sean Matthews standing beside her.

"I feel like a mass murderer," she said, pointing to the results of the last half hour's massacre.

"Here, let me show you," said Sean. Reaching past her, he deftly began separating the plants.

"How do you do that?" she asked.

Before he could answer, the world went crazy. It began with the floor, which started writhing under their
feet like a snake. A noise, unlike any Clea had ever heard, seemed to fill the air. Soon the rows of
sprouting tanks were vibrating so hard they were splashing their nutrient fluid into the air.

"What is it?" yelled Clea.