"Whats It Like Out There by Edmond Hamilton" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

I didn't see it, but I heard all about it."
104 ,r .,~,__ _. ___.
You could hear everybody breathing, it was so quiet as I
went on with my yarn.
"A couple of guys were knocked out by the concussion
and would have been burned up if a few fellows hadn't got
in there fast with foamite extinguishers. "They kept it away
from the big tanks, but another little tank let go, and Breck
and Walter were two of the fellows who'd gone in, and they
were killed instantly."
When I'd got it told, it sounded corny to me and I was
afraid they'd never believe it. But nobody said anything, un-
til Mr. Millis let out a sigh and said, "So that was it. Well
. >. well, if it had to be, it was mercifully quick, wasn't it?"
I said, yes, it was quick.
"Only, I can't see why they couldn't have let us know. It
doesn't seem fair."
I had an answer for that. "It's hush-hush because they
don't want people to know about the meteor danger. That's
why."
Mrs. Millis got up and said she wasn't feeling so well, and
would I excuse her and she'd see me in the morning. The
rest of us didn't seem to have much to say to each other, and
nobody objected when I went up to my bedroom a little
later.
I was getting ready to turn in when there was a knock on
the door. It was Breck's father, and he came in and looked
at me steadily.
"It was just a story, wasn't it?" he said.
I said, "Yes. It was just a story."
His eyes bored into me and he said, "I guess you've got
your reasons. Just tell me one thing. Whatever it was, did
Breck behave right?"
"He behaved like a man, all the way," I said. "He was the
best man of us, first to last."
He looked at me, anc~l guess something made him believe
me. He shook hands and said, "All right, son. We'll let it go."
I'd had enough. I wasn't going to face them again in the
morning. I wrote a note, thanking them all and making ex-
cuses, and then went down and slipped quietly out of the
house.
It was late, but a truck coming along picked me up, and
the driver said he was going near the airport. He asked me
what it was like on Mars and I told him it was lonesome. I
slept in a chair at the airport, and I felt better, for next day
I'd be home, and it would be over.
That's what I thought.
4-
It was getting toward evening when we reached the vil-
lage, for my father and mother hadn't knovyn I was coming