The Reproductive System (Gollancz SF Library) Read Online Free PDF Page A

boxes gripping one another with extensors to steady the pile. Karl raised the watch a third time, a fourth.
    The top box, standing on edge, split like a tiny suitcase. Two thin rods slithered upwards.
    ‘What are those? Look like car antennae,’ said Louie.
    ‘Look out !’ shouted Hita. ‘It’s making a grab for it.’
    ‘No it isn’t,’ Karl assured him. ‘Just watch this.’
    The two rods passed the half-hunter and moved a link or two up the chain. They paused. A group of boxes stopped ‘drinking’ at the lab table’s DC outlet and formed chain from it to the pyramid. There was a sudden flashing fizz of light and the watch fell; the tiny suitcase caught it, drew in its horns instantly and snapped shut.
    ‘Hey ! Give that back !’ The mathematician caught up the offending box and shook it. He tried to pry it open, then shook it again.
    ‘Ouch !’ Suddenly the box clattered to the table, where it scooted about madly and was soon lost among its kind. There was a drop of blood on the end of Hita’s finger. ‘Bit me !’ he exclaimed, incredulous.
    ‘Yes.’ Kurt nodded enthusiastically. ‘You’ve got to expect it to fight back. You were threatening it.’
    ‘Yes, it was only defending its property,’ Karl added.
    ‘
It’s property
!’ Hita looked from one of the twins to the other. They wore pleased smiles, like those of indulgent parents. Without another word, the mathematician stalked out of the laboratory.
    ‘Let’s see what it will do with this,’ chorused the brothers. They wheeled over the oscilloscope on its stand and jammed it against the table. The grey creatures took notice of it at once. They now varied in size, from those which had scarcely grown at all to those which had swollen to the size of small tool boxes. None had so far reproduced.
    Now they swarmed around the oscilloscope and began to pile up against the side of it. From the top box a tiny screwdriver emerged to probe the cabinet. Finding a louvre, it pried. The shaft broke. There was muffled click and its stump retracted.
    ‘Watch,’ Karl cautioned.
    Smoke rose from the tool box, and there came a sound of loud, rapid hammering. A moment later a large screwdriver blade, still glowing, appeared. By main force it pried open the cabinet of the oscilloscope, bending back the steel cover to open a fist-sized hole. From another box came a pair of pliers. They entered the oscilloscope cabinet and began to rummage hastily inside. There came the tinkle of broken glass from time to time. At regular intervals, the pliers emerged, bearing booty : a broken tube, a two-inch hank of wire, half a resistor or a glass shard. On these, the tool box fed greedily.
    ‘Hey !’ said Louie, coming awake to what was happening. ‘You better not let Pop see that.’
    It was too late. At the same time, Grandison put his head in the door. ‘See what?’ He saw the tool box come up with a hank of transistors which it gobbled like succulent grapes. ‘What the hell is going on here?’ Glowering at Cal, he shouted, ‘It ain’t two weeks since I told you to take care of the equipment. What the hell do you mean, destroying my property like that?’
    Cal moved to shut off the system, but Kurt laid a restraining hand on his arm. ‘No,’ he said. ‘It is making mistakes, but it will learn. We’re having an inspection next week by General Grawk of the Air Force. Let it go until then. We’ll give it a corner of the lab of its own, to grow in.’ Turning to the company president he added, ‘Don’t worry, sir. This system will make the company billions for every dollar it costs.’
    ‘Well, that’s a relief.’ Grandison’s expression altered. ‘I got some bad news, though. Hita just died in the infirmary.’
    Cal stared.
‘What did you say?’
    ‘Hita. The statistics man. Just died of snakebite.’
    With a small thunderclap, the cathode-ray tube collapsed. The tool boxes continued to browse quietly.
    ‘Poor ramification,’ Cal murmured,