《Watershed 》作者：- James Blish【EPUB】

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BOOK FOUR. WATERSHED. The murmurs of discontent Capt. Gorbel being a military man thought of it as quotdisaffection“among the crew of the R.S.S. Indefeasible had reached the point where they could no longer beignored well before the ship had come within fifty light years of its objective. Sooner or later Gorbel thought sooner or later this idiotic seal-creature is going to noticethem. Capt. Gorbel wasnt sure whether he would be sorry or glad when the Adapted Man caught on. In away it would make things easier. But it would be an uncomfortable moment not only forHoqqueah and the rest of the pantrope team but for Gorbel himself. Maybe it would be better tokeep sitting on the safety valve until Hoqqueah and the other Altarians were put off on whatwas its name again Oh yes. Earth. But the crew plainly wasnt going to let Gorbel put it off that long. As for Hoqqueah he didnt appear to have a noticing center anywhere in his brain. He was aslittle discommoded by the emotional undertow as he was by the thin and frigid air the Rigelliancrew maintained inside the battlecraft. Secure in his coat of warm blubber his eyes brownliquid and merry he sat in the forward greenhouse for most of each ships day watching thegrowth of the star Sol in the black skies ahead. And he talked. Gods of all stars how he talked Capt. Gorbel already knew more about theancient the very ancient history of the seeding program than he had had any. desire to knowbut there was still more coming. Nor was the seeding program Hoqqueahs sole subject. TheColonization Council delegate had had a vertical education one which cut in a narrow shaftthrough many different fields of specialization in contrast to Corbels own training which hadbeen spread horizontally over the whole subject of spaceflight without more than touchinganything else. Hoqqueah seemed to be making a project of enlarging the Captains horizons whether he wantedthem enlarged or not. quotTake agriculturequot he was saying at the moment. quotThis planet were to seed provides anexcellent argument for taking the long view of farm policy. There used to be jungles there itwas very fertile. But the people began their lives as farmers with the use of fire and theykilled themselves off in the same way.” quotHowquot Gorbel said automatically. Had he remained silent Hoqqueah would have gone on .anyhowand it didnt pay to be impolite to the Colonization Council even by proxy. quotIn their own prehistory fifteen thousand years .before their official zero date they clearedfarmland by burning it off. Then they would plant a crop harvest it and let the jungle return. Then they burned thejungle off and went through the cycle again. At the beginning they wiped out the greatestabundance of game animals Earth was ever to see just by farming that way. Furthermore themethod was