"Simon Clark - The Night Of The Triffids (v1.0)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Clark Simon)

THE NIGHT OF THE TRIFFIDS
By
Simon Clark

й 2001

Version 1.0

ISBN 0-340-76600-X



Simon Clark writes:
I was twelve years old when I discovered John Wyndham's awe-inspiring DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS. For me, standing between the world of childhood and the mysterious new world of adulthood, it was a revelation. THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS wasn't merely a good story; it was such a powerful transforming experience that the hero's struggle for survival has stayed with me ever since. And yet always, always, when I re-read this great book, I feel an aching sense of loss as I reach the end. The characters were leaving me. But deep down I knew their stories continued. For years I dreamed about their future adventures. Now, at long last, I can slip into the hero's shoes to explore the ruins of a great civilization which died just a few years before the birth of rock and roll, moon landings and colour TV. I can face the menace of the murderous triffid again and learn that the battle for humankind's survival is far from over. Writing this book was a real labour of love, and I dedicate it with true respect and admiration to John Wyndham, 1903-1969.


PROLOGUE

IT is now twenty-five years since three hundred men, women and children withdrew from the British mainland to establish a colony of survivors on the Isle of Wight.

There, in every library and in every school, is a mimeographed typescript of William Masen's account of the Great Blinding, the coming of the triffids and the fall of civilization.

Comprising little more than two hundred quarto pages, it is bound between covers of stiff orange card. Inside you will find no illustrations and not so much as a single photograph.

It is a vivid enough story nonetheless.

This is the final paragraph of William Masen's book:

So we must regard the task ahead as ours alone. We think now that we can see the way, but there is still a lot of work and research to be done before the day when we, or our children, or their children, will cross the narrow straits on the great crusade to drive the triffids back and back with ceaseless destruction until we have wiped the last one of them from the face of the land that they have usurped.

That is the end of William Masen's testament. What follows now is the beginning of another Ч in a world that still lies in thrall to the dreadful triffid...



CHAPTER ONE
WORLD DARKENING...

When nine o'clock on a summer's morning appears, so far as your eyes can tell, as dark as midnight in the very depths of winter, then there is something very seriously wrong somewhere.

It was one of those mornings when I awoke instantly alert, refreshed and ready for a new day. I was, as my mother Josella Masen would have put it, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Only, for the life of me, I didn't know why I felt that way. Raising myself onto one elbow, I looked round the bedroom. It wasn't just dark. That's too tame a word for it. There was an absolute absence of light. I saw nothing. Not a glimmer of starlight through the window. No lamplight from a house across the way. Not even my hand in front of my face. Nothing.

Only darkness in its inky totality.

There, I remember telling myself firmly, it's still the middle of the night. You've been woken by some cat giving voice while following its natural instincts. Or perhaps the old man in the next room had to get up for some reason. Now, go back to sleep.


I lay flat on my back and closed my eyes.