"Henry Kuttner - The Well of the Worlds UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

HENRY KUTTNER

Novels

Available In Ace Books:

VALLEY OF THE FLAME (F-297) EARTH'S LAST CITADEL (F-306) THE DARK WORLD (F-327)

THE WELL OF THE WORLDS

HENRY KUTTNER

ACE BOOKS, INC.

1120 Avenue of the Americas

New York, N.Y. 10036

THE WELL OF THE WORLDS

Copyright, 1952, by Better Publications, Inc.

An Ace Book, by arrangement with The Estate of Henry Kuttner

All Rights Reserved

Cover by Alex Schomburg.

I

W-J UTSIDE the hotel window Clifford Sawyer could see the lights of Fortuna burning in the Pole's noonday darkness along all the plank paths of the little mining camp, glowing blue in the hospital windows, shining yellow in bunk houses and offices. He couldn't see the mine, of course, from here, but he could feel it. That deep, steady, almost sub-sensory whumpЧwhumpЧwhump had never stopped, day or night, for seventeen years now, since the mine was first opened in 1953. A great many people wanted uranium ore. The government needed its share, too, and the pumps never stopped, down under the frozen cap of the world.

Reflected in the glass, he saw the girl behind him stir impatiently. He turned his gaze back toward her, thinking that he had never seen eyes quite the shape and color of Klai Ford's. There was a touch of exoticism about her which he had been trying in vain to place, remembering what he had read yesterday in the files of the Royal Atomic Energy Commission, back in Toronto, about the curious background of this girl who had inherited half a uranium mine a few months ago.

Printed in U.S.A.

She had smooth, caramel-colored hair. Her brow was bland and her eyes round, confiding and a singularly deep blue. Sawyer liked the way her front teeth stuck out ever so slightly, in an appealing sort of way that made him think of the ill-fated Lise Bolkonskaya in War and Peace, whose pretty little upper lip was too short for her teeth. The planes of Jflai Ford's cheeks and the way the round eyes were set fascinated him. He had never seen just those structural lines before in any face on earth, and his experience had been wide.

Sawyer smiled at her. He had very white teeth in a very brown face, and his hair and eyes were a few shades lighter than his skin. About him was that relaxed air of alertness a man acquires who has reached a satisfactory compromise with life, and knows there will always be more compromises to make, as long as life lasts.

Til do my best," he told her, trying to place the curious little accent that had sounded in the girl's voice. "I don't even carry a gun, though. Our outfit usually works more with adding" machines than with revolvers. Maybe you'd better tell me a little more. The Commissioner wouldn't have sent me up here if he hadn't figured I could solve your problem, in my own plodding wayЧwhich may be the best way to tackleЧyou said ghosts?"

"Yes, ghosts," the girl said firmly, and her odd little accent was as maddening as a tune you can't quite remember. "They're ruining our output. The miners won't even work some of the levels any more. Our refineries down south report the percentage of uranium in the pitchblends is dropping like that."

She snapped her fingers and looked at him anxiously. "The mine is haunted. I'm not crazy, Mr. Sawyer, but I'm perfectly sure my partner would like you to think I am. That man's trying to close the mine. I thinkЧ" She clasped her hands tight and looked appealingly at Sawyer. "I know it sounds mad," she said, "but somebody's trying to kill me."

"Can you prove it?" Sawyer asked mildly.

"I can."