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your friend Born might not approve of our aims in coming here?"
"We never went into specifics about our activities, Chief," she replied.
"There were times when one could have read his questions and answers several
ways. But since he was in the process of saving our lives, I didn't think it
expedient to argue motivations with him. I felt our primary objective was to
get back here whole."
"Yet despite this uncertainty about how he might react, you let him leave
these two semi-intelligent animals free to mount a rescue."
Logan couldn't keep herself from showing a little anger of her own. "What
was I supposed to do? Drag them along bodily? It seemed to me best at the time
to stay on friendly terms with Born and Losting. The furcots saw what a laser
cannon can do. None of Cargo's brilliant assistants located any passageways in
these support trunks! How could I guess that?"
"You could have insisted he bring his pets along."
"You still don't understand, sir." She fought to make it plain. "The
furcots aren't _pets_. They're independent semisentient creatures with
extensive reasoning powers of their own. They associate with humans because
they want to, not because they've been domesticated. If they want to do
something like remain behind in their forest, there's no way Born or anyone
else can force them to do otherwise." She glanced significantly at the hole in
the floor where the metal had been peeled back like the skin of an apple.
"Would _you_ want to argue with them?"
"You debate persuasively, Kimi. It's my own fault. I expect too much of
everyone. And those expectations are always fulfilled." He looked broodingly
at the dark runnel. "I wish there were some way of avoiding a confrontation.
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Not because it would make our operation here any less illegal if we have to
kill a few natives."
"Not natives, sir," Logan reminded him, "survivors of?"
Hansen cocked his head and glared at her, his voice steady, hard. "Kimi,
back in spoke twelve I saw a maintenance subengineer named Haumi with his face
pushed in and his back broken. He's dead now. As far as I'm concerned, that
makes Born and Losting, and any of their cousins who feel similarly about our
presence here, natives, hostile ones. I have an obligation to the people who
put up the credit for this station. I'll take whatever steps are necessary to
protect that. Now, is there any chance you could find your way back to this
village, or Home?"
Logan paused thoughtfully. "Considering some of the twists and turns, ups
and downs we took, I doubt it. Not without Born's help. Our skimmer must be
nearly covered by fresh growth by now. Even if we were to locate it, I don't
know if we could find the Home from there. You've no idea, sir," she half
pleaded, "what it's like trying to move through this world on foot. It's hard
enough to tell up from down, let alone horizontal direction. And the native
carnivorous life, the defensive systems developed by the flora?"
"You don't have to tell me, Kimi." Hansen jammed his hands into the
robe's pockets. "I helped clear the space for this station. Well, we'll still
try to take at least one of them alive when they come back."
"Your pardon, sir," Cohoma said, his expression uncertain. "Come back?
I'd think Born would tend to hightail it back to the Home to organize
resistance to us and warn his fellows."
Hansen shook his head sadly, smiled condescendingly. "You'll never be
much more than a scout, Cohoma."
"Sir," Logan began, "I don't think you're being entirely fair?"
"And the same goes for you, Logan. Goes for the two of you." His voice
sank dangerously, all pretense of fatherliness gone. "You've both been guilty
of underestimating your subject. Maybe their smaller stature made you feel
superior. Maybe it was the fact that you're the product of a technologically
advanced culture-the reasons don't really matter. You probably think you
talked this Born into making this trip. You think you kept him in the dark
concerning the station's true purpose. Instead, look what's happened. Why do
you think Born wanted advanced weaponry above all else? To fight off local
predators? Patrick O'Morion, no! So he could eventually deal on even terms
with _us_!
"Now he knows the nature and disposition of our defenses here, the
station layout, has a rough idea of our numerical strength, and sees how
really isolated from outside help we are. He's also divined our intentions and
decided they run contrary to his own. No, I don't see that kind of man running
for help. He'll take at least one crack at us on his own."
Cohoma looked abashed. "None of which would matter," Hansen went on, "if
he was still sitting back in that room, under guard. It pains me to have to
kill so resourceful a man. The trouble is this spiritual attitude they
apparently take toward the welfare of every weed and flower. That's what you
two have failed to perceive. With your Born, our announced activities here are
grounds for a holy war. I'll bet my pension he's out there now, sitting on
some idolized thornbush, watching us, and thinking of ways to make the
blasphemers' way into hell fast and easy. Now, tell me more about these [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]