Читать книгу The Science Fiction Anthology онлайн

306 страница из 776

Cable tapped the microphone impatiently. “Hello,” he said, “this is Vuanu calling, emergency call—”

Drake walked over and took the microphone out of Cable’s hand. He put it down carefully.

“We can’t call for help,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Cable cried. “We have to!”

Drake felt very tired. “Look, if we send out a distress call, somebody’s going to come sailing right in—but they won’t be prepared for this kind of trouble. The Quedak will take them over and then use them against us.”

“We can explain what the trouble is,” Cable said.

“Explain? Explain what? That a bug is taking over the island? They’d think we were crazy with fever. They’d send in a doctor on the inter-island schooner.”

“Dan’s right,” Sorensen said. “Nobody would believe this without seeing it for himself.”

“And by then,” Drake said, “it’d be too late. Eakins figured it out before the Quedak got him. That’s why he told us not to send any messages.”

Cable looked dubious. “But why did he want us to take the transmitter?”