"Bradbury, Ray - Sound of Thunder, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bradbury Ray)

"Ah," said Travis.
Everyone stopped.
Travis raised his hand. "Ahead," he whispered. "In the
mist. There he is. There's His Royal Majesty now."
The jungle was wide and full of twitterings, rustlings,
murmurs, and sighs.
Suddenly it all ceased, as if someone had shut a door.
Silence.
A sound of thunder.
Out of the mist, one hundred yards away, came
Tyrannosaurus Rex.
"Jesus God," whispered Eckels.
"Shit"
It came on great oiled, resilient, striding legs. It lowered
thirty feet above half of the trees, a great evil god, folding
its delicate watchmaker's claws close to its oily reptilian
chest. Each lower leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of
white bone, sunk in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over
in a gleam of pebbled skin like the mail of a terrible
warrior, Each thigh was a ton of meat, ivory, and steel mesh.
And from the great breathing cage of the upper body those
two delicate arms dangled out front, arms with hands
which might pick up and examine men like toys, while the
snake neck coiled. And the head itself, a ton of sculptured
stone, lifted easily upon the sky. Its mouth gaped, exposing
a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, ostrich eggs,
empty of all expression save hunger. It closed its mouth in
a death grin. It ran, its pelvic bones crushing aside trees
and bushes, its taloned feet clawing damp earth, leaving
prints six inches deep wherever it settled its weight. It ran
with a gliding ballet step, far too poised and balanced for
its ten tons. It moved into a sunlit arena warily, its
beautiful reptile hands feeling the air.
"My God!" Eckels twitched his mouth. "It could reach
up and grab the moon."
"Shit" Travis jerked angrily. "He hasn't seen us yet."
"It can't be killed." Eckels pronounced this verdict
quietly, as if there could be no argument. He had weighed
the evidence and this was his considered opinion. The
rifle in his hands seemed a cap gun. "We were fools to
come. This is impossible."
"Shut up!" hissed Travis.
"Nightmare."
"Turn around," commanded Travis. "Walk quietly to
the Machine. We'll remit one-half your fee."
"I didn't realise it would be this big," said Eckels. "I
miscalculated, that's all. And now I want out."
"It sees us!"
"There's the red paint on its chest!"
The Thunder Lizard raised itself. Its armoured flesh