"Bradbury, Ray - The Illustrated Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bradbury Ray)

УYes.Ф He replied at last.

УStimson, take it easy; weТre all in the same fix.Ф

УI donТt want to be here. I want to be somewhere else.Ф

УThereТs a chance weТll be found.Ф

УI must be, I must be,Ф said Stimson. УI donТt believe this; I donТt believe any of this is happening.Ф

УItТs a bad dream,Ф said someone.

УShut up!Ф said Hollis.

УCome and make me,Ф said the voice. It was Applegate. He laughed easily, with a similar objectivity. УCome and shut me up.Ф

Hollis for the first time felt the impossibility of his position. A great anger filled him, for he wanted more than anything at this moment to be able to do something to Applegate. He had wanted for many years to do something and now it was too late. Applegate was only a telephonic voice.

Falling, falling, falling



Now, as if they had discovered the horror, two of the men began to scream. In a nightmare Hollis saw one of them float by, very near, screaming and screaming.

УStop it!Ф The man was almost at his fingertips, screaming insanely. He would never stop. He would go on screaming for a million miles, as long as he was in radio range, disturbing all of them, making it impossible for them to talk to one another.

Hollis reached out. It was best this way. He made the extra effort and touched the man. He grasped the manТs ankle and pulled himself up along the body until he reached the head. The man screamed and clawed frantically, like a drowning swimmer. The screaming filled the universe.

One way or the other, thought Hollis. The moon or Earth or meteors will kill him, so why not now?

He smashed the manТs glass mask with his iron fist. The screaming stopped. He pushed off from the body and let it spin away on its own course, falling.

Falling, falling down space Hollis and the rest of them went in the long, endless dropping and whirling of silence.

УHollis, you still there?Ф

Hollis did not speak, but felt the rush of heat in his face.

УThis is Applegate again.Ф

УAll right, Applegate.Ф

УLetТs talk. We havenТt anything else to do.Ф

The captain cut in. УThatТs enough of that. WeТve got to figure a way out of this.Ф

УCaptain, why donТt you shut up?Ф said Applegate.

УWhat!Ф