The Stones of Nomuru
- Автор: Де Камп Лайон Спрэг
- Серия: Viagens Interplanetarias #7
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «The Stones of Nomuru». Краткое содержание книги:
Mild-mannered Terra archeologist Keith Salazar was just minding his business, digging up the alien past on an out-of-the-way site on the planet Kukulcan, when suddenly he was beseiged by intruders on his scholarly peace: hostile natives, an indifferent ex-wife, and a demon developer with rapacious eyes glued on both his site and his true love.
In the course of protecting his dig, regaining his loved one and vanquishing his rival, Salazar will fight a giant reptilian predator bare-handed, leap into snake-filled pits, engineer the planet's first imperial conquest, lead and train a battalion of alien riflemen, and hold a séance. Pretty exciting work--but then maybe Keith Salazar wasn't such a milquetoast after all...
"But it is rumored that the developer has an agreement with their chief. You had better pack up your equipment and specimens to flee with your people on the minute's notice. It would be bad enough to lose the site; the Museum cannot afford to risk our students as well."
"I've already put my assistants through evacuation drills. Staying late?"
"Yes, indeed. I work best at night, when nobody visits or rings me up."
"Have fun!" said Salazar.
In his own apartment, Salazar activated his poignette: "Cabot, it's my turn to fix dinner."
"Let's eat here," replied Firestone's voice. "I've got the better stove. You can buy the chow and bring it in, if you insist."
Over drinks, Salazar brought his friend up to date. "My present problem," he said, "is to pry Skanda Patel off his arse and out of the building for one little night."
"Which night?" asked Firestone.
"Don't know yet. As soon as possible after Gariko's men and animals arrive, which might be in five or six days; but you can't time these things to the second."
"Especially with our primitive communication systems," said Firestone. "With our small population and limited research and manufacturing facilities, we're centuries behind the home planet. Sometimes I get homesick for good old Terra, even if it's dreadfully overcrowded and overorganized."
"So do I," said Salazar, and continued:
Firestone laughed, then changed the subject. "How are you and Kara making out with this just friends' relationship?"
"She seems to manage all right."
"And you?"
"Just being driven quietly nuts. That leaves unanswered the one more urgent question: How to lure Skanda out of his lair when the time comes?"
"How about a dinner party? If we could get two or three attractive women ... I hear that pretty girls are Skanda's weakness."
"Hm," said Salazar. "I haven't entertained anybody for months. I could ask Kara. Or you could ask her, if you'd prefer. Who else?"
"How about that man-eating student you told me about? You know, the gorgeous redhead."
"Penny Molina? Not a bad idea."
"Then during the evening, you could slither away on some pretext and go to the museum. I could see Kara home, leaving poor Skanda to Penny's mercies."
Salazar pondered. "I don't know. She may not even like my workaholic director. She may be furious when I pull a vanishing act."
"Can you think of a better scheme?"
Salazar sighed. "No."
"Does Patel drink? He's considered somewhat austere."
"I believe he's been known to imbibe a thimbleful of bumbleberry wine. You call Kara and tell her to stand by. I'll take on the job of inviting Penny. We'll set the party for a few nights after the convoy arrives."
"Why not as soon as they get here?" asked Firestone.
"Because, after a twelve-day trek, the animals have to rest and feed for a couple of days. If you push them too hard, they'll lie down and die."
"Why don't you use trucks? Won't the roads take them?"
"A convoy of Kookish steam trucks would be more than conspicuous. Miyage would get suspicious and find a pretext to detain them. If this weren't a secret operation, I'd haul the crates down to the station and ship them by the Kooks' teakettle railroad."
Later that evening in his apartment, Salazar buttoned Penny Molina's number. When her "Hello?" floated out of the poignette, he said: "Hello, Penny; it's your old professor."
"Which one?"
"Keith Salazar." The poignette gave a gasp of pleasure.
"Cabot Firestone—you know, the psychologist—and I are planning a little dinner party at his place, with two or three other people, in about an eight-day or so. We can't set the exact day yet; but when we do, would you like to come?"
"Oh, would I! I'd even break a date with Monty Skopas to—"
"Who's he?"
"My, but you're ignorant about some things, Keith! He's that gorgeous actor on the movie cassettes from Terra."
"All right then, I'll call you back when the date's been set."
"Oh, thank you, Keith! Thank you! I'm so happy—"
"Good-night, my dear," said Salazar firmly, since the outpouring of gratitude might go on indefinitely.
His conscience nagged him a little. He was taking advantage of Penny's childish enthusiasm to enlist her on his dark scheme under false pretenses. But, he sternly told himself, the salvation of the dig justified such small deceptions.
Days passed. Salazar spent his time working at the Museum, keeping in touch with his assistants by poignette. Galina reported:
"They came back today, with a gang of Kooks and a dozen kyuumeis. They hitched the animals to the tractor and tried to haul it out; but no matter how they beat the beasts, the machine remained in the hole. The kyuumeis' hooves tore up the surface layer in that part."
Salazar said: "Has Bergen been out there yet?"
"No; at least we haven't seen him."
"When he comes, which could be tomorrow, he might organize a raid to wipe out the lot of you. He'll guess that pitfall wasn't put there for archaeological research. So we'd better bug out. Tell Ito to go to Neruu this evening, avoiding Terrans, and hire Kooks and animals to carry our stuff back to Henderson. Leave the labeled bags of specimens in the bush. We'll recover them later. You and Marcel start dismantling everything else, with Kono's and Uwangi's help. I want all of you out by sunrise."
"You mean work all night?" squeaked Galina.
"Yep. Get going. It's your lives you're saving."
"What shall we do with Kono and Uwangi?"
"Bring 'em back to the Museum; their contract covers packing and moving. And don't forget my rifle, my bike, and the ice maker!"
The following afternoon, the fugitives materialized, followed by a score of Kooks bearing bundles and leading laden kudzais. For the rest of the day and far into the night, Salazar, Patel, and all the other museum personnel they could catch were drafted for the task of unloading, unpacking and storing.
Returning late and exhausted to his apartment, Salazar found a note pressed into the jamb of his door. He bent to pick up the paper, almost collapsed with fatigue, but managed to recover both note and balance and insert his key in the lock. In the lighted room he scanned the paper. It read:
"Let's get together some time. Diane."
Angrily, Salazar crumpled the note the better to hurl it into the waste basket. Contact with his second ex-wife was all he needed to complicate his life to the screaming point!
Then prudence reasserted itself. The note contained an address and a poignette number, both of which might some time prove useful. He smoothed out the paper, scribbled "No answer" across the face, and filed it in his current letter file under M for Diane's maiden surname of Morrow.
A few days later, Salazar called Firestone on his poignette. "Cabot? Keith here. They've arrived, and I'm going out to see them."
"Want to borrow my car?"
"Thanks, but I'd rather use my bike."
Salazar returned to town late in the evening. He parked his bicycle in the rack outside Firestone's apartment and went in, saying with ill-concealed excitement: "Vittorio insisted on my baring a fang with him. The caravan leader thinks the animals need three full days to gather their strength."
"Does that mean you'll bring them in the evening of the third day, counting tomorrow as the first?"