"Heinlein, Robert A - Nothing Ever Happens On The Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

He set the light on the rock floor, and put the skis aside, then heaved mightily. Sam, toboggan, and load came sliding down, starting a small avalanche. Bruce touched helmets. УLook! WeТre getting somewhere!Ф
Sam did not answer. Bruce persisted, УSam, did you hear me?Ф
УI heard you. Thanks for pulling me out. Now untie me, will you?Ф
УHold the light.Ф Bruce got busy. Shortly he was saying, УThere you are. Now IТll stir around and find the way out.Ф
УWhat makes you think there is a way out?Ф
УHuh? DonТt talk like that. Who ever heard of a cave with no exit?Ф
Sam answered slowly, УHe didnТt find one.Ф

УLook.Ф Sam shined the light past Bruce. On the rock a few feet away was a figure in an old-fashioned space suit.
Bruce took the light and cautiously approached the figure. The man was surely dead; his suit was limp. He lay at ease, hands folded across his middle, as if taking a nap. Bruce pointed the torch at the glass face plate. The face inside was lean and dark, skin clung to the bones; Bruce turned the light away.
He came back shortly to Sam. УHe didnТt make out
so well,Ф Bruce said soberly. УI found these papers in his pouch. WeТll take them with us ~so we can let his folks know.Ф
УYou are an incurable optimist, arenТt you? Well, all right.Ф Sam took them. There were two letters, an oldstyle flat photograph of a little girl and a dog, and some other papers. One was a driverТs license for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, dated June 1995 and signed Abner Green.
Bruce stared. У1995! Gee Whiz!Ф
УI wouldnТt count on notifying his folks.Ф
Bruce changed the subject. УHe had one thing we can use. This.Ф It was a coil of manila rope. УIТll hitch all the lines together, one end to your belt and one to mine. ThatТ!! give me five or six hundred feet. If you want me, just pull.Ф
УOkay. Watch your step.Ф
УIТll be careful. YouТll be all right?Ф
УSure. IТve got him for company.Ф
УWell . . . . here goes.Ф
One direction seemed as good as another. Bruce kept the line taut to keep from walking in a circle. The rock curved up presently and his flash showed that it curved back on itself, a dead end. He followed the wall to the left, picking his way, as the going was very rough. He found himself in a passage. It seemed to climb, but it narrowed. Three hundred feet and more out by the ropes, it narrowed so much that he was stopped.
Bruce switched off his light and waited for his eyes to adjust. He became aware of a curious sensation. It was panic.
He forced himself not to turn on the light until he was certain that no gleam lay ahead. Then thankfully he stumbled back into the main cavern.
Another series of chambers led steadily downward. He turned back at a black and bottomless hole.
The details varied but the answers did not: At the furthest reach of the lines, or at some impassable ob
stacle, he would wait in the darkЧbut no gleam of light ever showed. He went back to Sam after having covered, he estimated, about 1800.
Sam had crawled up to the heap of fallen dust. Bruce hurried to him. УSam, are you all right?Ф
УSure. I just moved to a feather bed. That rock is terribly cold. What did you find?Ф
УWell, nothing yet,Ф he admitted. He sat down in the flaky pile and leaned toward Sam. УIТll start again in a moment.Ф
УHowТs your air supply?Ф asked Sam.
УUh, IТll have to crack my reserve bottle soon. HowТs yours?Ф
УMine is throttled to the limit. YouТre doing all the work; I can save my reserve bottle for youЧI think.Ф
Bruce frowned. He wanted to protest, but the gesture wouldnТt make sense. They would have to finish up all even; naturally he was using much more air than was Sam.
One thing was sureЧtime was running out. Finally he said, УLook, SamЧthereТs no end of those caves and passages. I couldnТt search them all with all the air in Luna City.Ф
УI was afraid so.Ф
УBut we know thereТs a way out right above us.Ф
УYou mean in.Ф
УI mean out. See hereЧthis morning glory thing is built like an hour glass; thereТs an open cone on top, and this pile of sand down below. The stuff trickled down through a hole in the roof and piled up until it choked the hole.Ф
УWhere does that get you?Ф
УWell, if we dug the stuff away we could clear the hole.Ф
УIt would keep sifting down.Ф
УNo, it wouldnТt, it would reach a point where there wasnТt enough dust close by to sift down any furtherЧ there would still be a hole.Ф
Sam considered it. УMaybe. But when you tried to
climb up it would collapse back on you. ThatТs the bad part about a morning glory, Bruce; you canТt get a foothold.Ф
УThe dickens I canТt! If I canТt climb a slope on skis without collapsing it, when IТve got my wits about me and am really trying, why, you can have my reserve air bottle.Ф
Sam chuckled. УDonТt be hasty. I might hold you to it. Anyhow,Ф he added, УI canТt climb it.Ф
УOnce I get my feet on the level, IТll pull you out like a cork, even if youТre buried. TimeТs a-wastinТ.Ф Bruce got busy.
Using a ski as a shovel he nibbled at the giant pile. Every so often it would collapse down on him. It did not discourage him; Bruce knew that many yards of the stuff would have to fall and be moved back before the hole would show.
Presently he moved Sam over to the freshly moved waste. From there Sam held the light; the work went faster. Bruce began to sweat. After a while he had to switch air bottles; he sucked on his water tube and ate a march ration before getting back to work.
He began to see the hole opening above him. A great pile collapsed on him; he backed out, looked up, then went to Sam. УTurn out the light!Ф