"Daniel F. Galouye - Dark Universe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Galouye Daniel F)

stood more or less upright. It was advancing, trying to take them by surprise.
Jared reached into his quiver. But there were no more arrows. Then,
terrified, he cast his bow away and turned to flee.
"Oh, Light!" Owen moaned, scrambling back toward the exit. "What in
Radiation _is_ it?"
But Jared couldn't answer. He had all he could do trying to find the way
out while keeping his ears on the unholy menace. It was reeking more terribly
than a thousand soubats.
"It's Strontium himself!" Owen decided. "The legends are true! The Twin
Devils _are_ here!" He turned and bolted for the exit, his own bewildered
shouts providing the guiding echoes.
Jared only stood there, paralyzed by a sensation altogether beyond
comprehension. His auditory impression of the monstrous form was clear: it
seemed the thing's entire body was made up of fluttering sheets of flesh. But
there was something else--a vague yet vivid bridge of _noiseless_ echoes that
spanned the distance from the creature and boiled down into the depths of his
conscious.
Sounds, odors, tastes, the pressure of the rocks and material things
around him--all seemed to pour into his being, bringing pain. He clamped his
hands over his face and raced after Owen.
A _zip-hiss_ cleaved the air above his head and a moment later Owen's
voice rose in a cry of anguished terror. Then Jared heard his friend collapse,
falling at the entrance to the Original World.
He reached the spot where Owen lay, slung the unconscious form over his
shoulder and plunged on.
_Zip-hiss_.
Something grazed his arm, leaving droplets of moisture clinging to the
flesh. In the next instant he was tripping, failing, picking himself up and
racing on under the burden of Owen's dead weight. And he was seized by a
sudden grogginess he couldn't explain.
Deaf now, he staggered against the piled boulders that formed the
passage's left wall and groped his way around one of the huge rocks. Then he
stumbled into a crevice between two outcroppings and fell with Owen on top of
him, lapsing into unconsciousness.


CHAPTER TWO

"Good Light! Let's get out of here!"
Owen's whisper jarred him awake and Jared struggled erect. Then,
remembering the Original World and its terror, he lurched back.
"It's gone now," the other assured.
"You certain?"
"Yes. I heard it listening all around out here. Then it left. What in
Radiation was it--Cobalt? Strontium?"
Jared crawled from among the boulders and reached for a pair of
cickstones. But then he thought better of making any noise.
Owen shuddered. "That smell! The sound of its shape!"
"And that other sensation!" Jared swore. "It was like
something--psychic!"