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

TrouperтАФhere, there, everywhereтАФWirrah, Venus; Oktor, CallistoтАФ
Bits of tawdry tinselтАФmusicтАФLitaтАФThose past impressions continued to swirl in the brain of Terry
Sommers, till, at some indefinite moment, the process ceased.

AWAKENING was a surprise. There was the smell of disinfectant about him. Bright lights and white
walls. A pillow was beneath his head.
His body ached a trifle, but not enough to be annoying. Bandages covered tender areasтАФfrostbites
mostly. A man was near by, busy with something. He was elderly, and wore a small Vandyke beard.
Several moments passed while Terry sought to straighten matters out. Then, sure that he made no
error, he greeted: "Hello, doc!"
The physician wheeled, but before he could say anything, Terry flung a volley of questions at him.
"We've been wanting to tell you, young man," the doctor replied huskily. "We've been wanting to
thank you. Yes, this is Pindar. The antitoxin you brought has saved us."
"'But who found me, and how did they find me?" Terry insisted.
"Addison's fire," said the doctor. "It collected above you in a huge mass. The patrol fliers were
searching for the space ship, and naturally they investigated so huge a cloud of the fire, since it usually
indicated the presence of something interesting."
"The blue haze, you mean?" Terry inquired. "I thought it was dangerous."
"The blue haze," the physician answered. "And it is dangerousтАФthe most dangerous thing on Pluto;
next to the cold. See what it did to your partovac! A few minutes moreтАФ" He shrugged.
Terry glanced at the worn garment flung limply over a chair and shuddered. It looked as though
moths had been at it, though moths could scarcely have eaten into the composition-doped
steel-and-asbestos texture of its fabric.
"But it saved your life," the doctor went on. "The fire is alive, electrical. It creates a small quantity of
heat within itselfтАФenough in your case to keep out the cold until you were rescued. But it was a terrific
gamble. We wondered if you did it purposely, or if it was just a coincidence. The fire is sensitive to short
sound waves. A high, shrill note will attract it, you know."
"I didn't know!" Terry burst out with enthusiasm. "The Venusian did, though! It was he who attracted
the haze, and I thought he was just scared! Where is he? Is he all right?" Sommers had raised himself on
his elbow.
His informer's features brightened. "He's all right, or will be when his legs heal," he responded. "You
are more frostbitten than he is. Look behind you!"
Terry turned. In the bed beside his lay a fuzzy little man with great eyes. The eyes were watching him
with a curious twinkle that had the quality of a smile, though smiles Venusian faces could not register.
Terry felt awe, and a strange inner warmth.
The doctor uttered an odd, whistling note, attempting a Venusian word. "That's his name," he
explained. "He's been here in Pindar quite often. Quite a character. Biology is his hobby, but he's one of
these show people. From your passport I gather you're one, too."
Young Sommers was unaccountably speechless. Intently he watched, while the fuzzy little man drew
something from under the bed covering. It glittered as a bandaged paw raised it to his lips. A harmonica!
Then he began to playтАФa curious jingle, Earthly yet un-Earthly. It was the jingle of tinsel, and yet
there was hard steel in it somewhere.
Terry chuckled softly. Contrasts! It was funny to see a Venus elf blowing a mouth organ! There was
lettering on the instrument. He couldn't read it from where he was, but he suspected with a nostalgic
twinge, that it spelled: "Made in U. S. A."
His hand went up in a sort of salute. "Hi, trouper!" he said.