"Philip Jose Farmer - 1952-1964" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

charted but unexplored planet, Baudelaire. Everybody else had gone to sit behind the captain, strapped
in crashchairs, unable to help except with their silent backing.

Moral support had not been enough. The ship had come in on a shallow slant. Too fast. The wounded
motors had not been able to hold her up. The prow had taken the brunt of the punishment. So had those
seated in the nose.

Dr. Fetts had held her sons head on her bosom and prayed out loud to her God. Eddie had snored and
muttered. Then there was a sound like the clashing of the gates of doomтАФa tremendous bong as if the
ship were a clapper in a gargantuan bell tolling the most frightening message human ears may hearтАФa
blinding blast of lightтАФand darkness and silence.

A few moments later Eddie began crying out in a childish voice, тАЬDonтАЩt leave me to die, mother! Come
back! Come back!тАЭ

Mother was unconscious by his side, but he did not know that. He wept for a while, then he lapsed back
into his rye-fogged stuporтАФif he had ever been out of itтАФand slept. Again, darkness and silence.

It was the second day since the crash, if тАЬdayтАЭ could describe that twilight state on Baudelaire. Dr. Fetts
followed her son wherever he went. She knew he was very sensitive and easily upset. All his life she had
known it and had tried to get between him and anything that would cause trouble. She had succeeded,
she thought, fairly well until three months ago when Eddie had eloped.

The girl was Polina Fameux, the ash-blonde long-legged actress whose tridi image, taped, had been
shipped to frontier stars where a small acting talent meant little and a large and shapely bosom much.
Since Eddie was a well-known Metro tenor, the marriage made a big splash whose ripples ran around
the civilized Galaxy.

Dr. Fetts had felt very bad about the elopement, but she had, she hoped, hidden her grief very well
beneath a smiling mask. She didnтАЩt regret having to give him up; after all, he was a full-grown man, no
longer her little boy. But, really, aside from the seasons at the Met and his tours, he had not been parted
from her since he was eight.
That was when she went on a honeymoon with her second husband. And then she and Eddie had not
been separated long, for Eddie had gotten very sick, and sheтАЩd had to hurry back and take care of him,
as he had insisted she was the only one who could make him well.

Moreover, you couldnтАЩt count his days at the opera as a total loss, for he vised her every noon and they
had a long talkтАФno matter how high the vise bills ran.

The ripples caused by her sonтАЩs marriage were scarcely a week old before they were followed by even
bigger ones. They bore the news of the separation of Eddie and his wife. A fortnight later, Polina applied
for divorce on grounds of incompatibility. Eddie was handed the papers in his motherтАЩs apartment. He
had come back to her the day he and Polina had agreed they тАЬcouldnтАЩt make a go of it,тАЭ or, as he
phrased it to his mother, тАЬcouldnтАЩt get together.тАЭ

Dr. Fetts was, of course, very curious about the reason for their parting, but, as she explained to her
friends, she тАЬrespectedтАЭ his silence. What she didnтАЩt say was that she had told herself the time would
come when he would tell her all.

Eddies тАЬnervous breakdownтАЭ started shortly afterward. He had been very irritable, moody, and