Citizen in Spase. Stories / Гражданин в Космосе. Рассказы. Книга для чтения на английском языке

Agee brought the ship down with deft skill. He was well past the compulsory retirement limit for master pilots, but it didn’t affect his coordination. Barnett, who found him stranded and penniless, had signed him on. The captain was always glad to help another human, if it was convenient and likely to be profitable. The two men shared the same attitude toward private property, but sometimes disagreed on ways of acquiring it. Agee preferred a sure thing. Barnett, on the other hand, had more courage than was good for a member of a relatively frail species like Homo sapiens.

Near the surface of the planet, they saw that the strange ship was larger than Endeavor and bright, shining new. The hull shape was unfamiliar, as were the markings.

“Ever see anything like it?” Barnett asked.

Agee searched his capacious memory. “Looks a bit like a Cephean job, only they don’t build ’em so squat. We’re pretty far out, you know. That ship might not even be from the Confederacy.”

Victor stared at the ship, his big lips parted in wonder. He sighed noisily. “We could sure use a ship like that, huh, Captain?”

Barnett’s sudden smile was like a crack appearing in granite. “Victor,” he said, “in your simplicity, you have gone to the heart of the matter. We could use a ship like that. Let’s go down and talk with its skipper.”

Before strapping in, Victor made sure the freeze-blasters were on full charge.

On the ground, they sent up an orange and green parley flare, but there was no answer from the alien ship. The planet’s atmosphere tested breathable, with a temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit[21]. After waiting a few minutes, they marched out, freeze-blasters ready under their jumpers.

All three men wore studiously pleasant smiles as they walked the fifty yards between ships.

Up close, the ship was magnificent. Its glistening silver-gray hide had hardly been touched by meteor strikes. The airlock was open and a low hum told them that the generators were recharging.

“Anyone home?” Victor shouted into the airlock. His voice echoed hollowly through the ship. There was no answer – only the soft hum of the generators and the rustle of grass on the plain.

“Where do you suppose they went?” Agee asked.

“For a breath of air, probably,” Barnett said. “I don’t suppose they’d expect any visitors.”

Victor placidly sat down on the ground. Barnett and Agee prowled around the base of the ship, admiring its great drive ports.

“Think you can handle it?” Barnett asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Agee said. “For one thing, it’s conventional drive. The servos don’t matter – oxygen-breathers use similar drive-control systems. It’s just a matter of time until I figure it out.”

“Someone coming,” Victor called.

They hurried back to the airlock. Three hundred yards from the ship was a ragged forest. A figure had just emerged from among the trees, and was walking toward them.

Agee and Victor drew their blasters simultaneously.

Barnett’s binoculars resolved the tiny figure into a rectangular shape, about two feet high by a foot wide. The alien was less than two inches thick and had no head.

Barnett frowned. He had never seen a rectangle floating above tall grass.

Adjusting the binoculars, he saw that the alien was roughly humanoid. That is, it had four limbs. Two, almost hidden by the grass, were being used for walking, and the other two jutted stiffly into the air. In its middle, Barnett could just make out two tiny eyes and a mouth. The creature was not wearing any sort of suit or helmet.

“Queer-looking,” Agee muttered, adjusting the aperture of his blaster. “Suppose he’s all there is?”

“Hope so,” Barnett said, drawing his own blaster.

“Range about two hundred yards.” Agee leveled his weapon, then looked up. “Did you want to talk to him first, Captain?”

“What’s there to say?” Barnett asked, smiling lazily. “Let him get a little closer, though. We don’t want to miss.”

Agee nodded and kept the alien steadily in his sights.

* * *

Kalen had stopped at this deserted little world hoping to blast out a few tons of erol, a mineral highly prized by the Mabogian people. He had had no luck. The unused thetnite bomb was still lodged in his body pouch, next to a stray Icerla nut. He would have to return to Mabog with ballast instead of cargo.

Well, he thought, emerging from the forest, better luck next —

He was shocked to see a thin, strangely tapered spaceship near his own. He had never expected to find anyone else on this deadly little world.

And the inhabitants were waiting in front of his own airlock! Kalen saw at once they were roughly Mabogian in form. There was a race much like them in the Mabogian Union, but their spaceships were completely different. Intuition suggested that these aliens might well be representative of that great civilization rumored to be on the periphery of the Galaxy.

He advanced eagerly to meet them.

Strange, the aliens were not moving. Why didn’t they come forward to meet him? He knew that they saw him, because all three were pointing at him.