"Raymond Z. Gallun - Blue Haze on Pluto" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gallun Raymond Z)

him about the epidemic in Pindar.
"We've got to deliver the antitoxin!" he cried hoarsely, his words issuing in a muffled babble from the
breath vent of his mask. "Doctor Cairns! Do you hear me? We've got toтАФ" Terry did not finish his
insistent plea. His arms dropped loosely to his sides. What he had known to be true was true beyond
question; this was only a crushed corpse.
Human courage is often sufficient to accept any challenge; but nerve alone, in this case, was not
enough. Flesh has its limitations, however high the spirit that directs it. No creature of Terrestrial
protoplasm could journey on foot all the way across ten miles of Plutonian country at night, when clad
only in a partovac. To do so was a physical impossibility.
There was no way to call for aid or to give the location of the ship so that it might be found here,
concealed at the bottom of the crevasse. The radio was not only smashed; it was unreachable. The
sketchy SOS, given during the first shock of the unexpected catastrophe, could hardly have stated the
position of the crash adequately, even if the operator had been able to predict just where it was to take
place. Nor could Terry think of any means of signaling to the several fliers who even now must be
preparing to set out from Pindar in quest of the wreck. Unless they came near before dark, there was
small possibility indeed that he would be able to indicate the place where the liner had fallen.
However, Terry Sommers was both young and active. In youth, hope may flicker, but it seldom
burns out. Terry's attention came to rest on the baggage compartment above Cairns's crumpled form. A
hasty inspection enabled him to find the valise which contained tubes of white powderтАФthe Sylfane
antitoxin which Cairns had been taking to Pindar. The precious cargo was within reach, and undamaged.
The fact seemed to act as a stimulus upon Sommers.
With something definite to do, he felt more buoyant. First he groped through the wreckage,
examining the several bodies that he was able to reach.
All but one were corpses. A tiny Venusian still breathed shallowly, though he was unconscious, and,
Terry believed, dying. His legs, tangled in the debris of the cabin, were broken. Gently Terry disengaged
them ; though to attempt to take the little fellow along with him toward Pindar he felt would be pointless.
Gritting his teeth to suppress the pain in his shattered wrist, Terry prepared for the venture. The
partovac, thick, insulated, and equipped with heating coils in its air-tight fabric, offered considerable
protection against the cold, though a space suit would have been much better. He found three flasks of
oxygen in an overhead compartmentтАФenough to last perhaps five hours. These he attached clumsily to
the respirator system of his mask. Then he fastened the valise filled with antitoxin to his belt. There was
nothing else to do. He was ready.

HE WAS struggling with the warped bolts of the door of the cabin, when a soft cry, querulous and
low, like that of a bird lost in a storm, trilled behind him.
He wheeled about. The Venusian had come to his senses and had raised himself weakly on his
elbows.
Sommers swore angrily. "I can't be bothered with you, you crazy imp!" he hissed. "Why don't you
just quit? Why don't you curl up like you should, and get it over with!"
It was brutal. Maybe it had to be. But no, his tone at least could have been less ruthless.
"Sorry," he mumbled apologetically under his mask.
Large eyes, covered by goggles, regarded him through the cavernous twilight. Terry couldn't see
much of the Venusian because of the partovac the tiny man wore, but he knew what Venusians were
likeтАФfrail, fuzzy, with pink skin showing through the fuzz. Like a new-hatched bird. Hideous, pathetic.
Tough though; they could take a lot of abuse.
Whether this one could understand what he had said, he couldn't be sure. Venus folk didn't have the
vocal equipment to master human speech and the sign language they used to communicate with
Terrestrials Terry had never learned. He saw the elf's fingers move in some kind of gesture, but its
significance was beyond him. He thought, however, that he detected resignation in the great eyes. They
appraised the valise of antitoxin intelligently. Could it be that this imp grasped the situation, and was