"Edmond Hamilton - Captain Future 26 - Earthmen No More" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

nothing but mist, heavy darkling clouds of
it. Far, far away he saw the gleam of light
beyond him and he tried to grope toward it
but the mists were very thick.
"I can't," he moaned. "I'm lost."
Lost forever, in darkness and cold.
"Come back!" cried the voice strongly.
"Come back and live!"
He heard the sound of a hand striking
smartly against flesh. After a while he felt
it. That little sharp pain somehow managed
to bridge a colossal gulf and make him
aware that he had a body.
His brain oriented itself with a dizzying
lunge. The mists tore away. He woke.
It was a full awakening. The exploding
nova resolved itself into a light-tube,
glowing against a low ceiling of metal.
The countenance that had loomed so
hugely above him became the face of a
man. A lean face, deeply bronzed with the
unmistakable burn of space, topped with
red hair and set with two level grey eyes
that looked straight into Carey's and made
him feel somehow safe and unafraid.
"Lie still," said the red-haired man. "Get
your breath. There's no hurry." He turned
aside and his hands, very strong but
delicate of touch, busied themselves with a
vial and a gleaming needle.
Carey lay still. For the moment he had
not the strength to do anything else. The
room was small. It was fitted as a
1aboratory, incredibly compact, and many
of the objects that his wandering gaze
passed over were strange to him.
One of these objects was a small
cubical case of semi-translucent metal,
resting on a table. The surface nearest
Carey was fitted with twin lenses and a
disc, so that it bore an unsettling
resemblance to a face. Carey thought
vaguely that it must be some sort of a
communicator.
Suddenly he said, "I'm in a ship."
The red-haired man smiled. "How can
you tell? We're in free fall."
"I can tell." Carey tried to struggle up.
"But there are no ships beyond the Belt!
How..." Then he began to tremble