"David L. Kuzminski - Arrows and Lasers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuzminski David L)

do, Sheila?тАЭ
Sheila entered with her candle, stopping briefly to stare at Jim who held
his shotgun pointed down the hallway while wearing only his gun belt.
Sheila said, тАЬI found some officers and told them what you said. They're
manually locking down what they can. Then they'll report here after
spreading the word.тАЭ
тАЬHow are they doing? Any of them naked?тАЭ Priscilla asked.
тАЬYes, ma'am. They're all naked except for their belts and a couple of
undershirts. I asked about those. They told me those were made of cotton,тАЭ
Sheila answered.
тАЬMakes sense. Everything else is synthetic. We might have to wear
prison garb at this rate, though most of that's synthetic as well,тАЭ Priscilla
said.
тАЬAre you going to tell her?тАЭ Jim asked.
тАЬI was planning on waiting until more people are here.тАЭ
тАЬTell me what?тАЭ asked Sheila.
тАЬOfficer Drake informs me that we're in space somehow. Right now,
we're completely on our own so we better stick together or the inmates will
take over.тАЭ
тАЬSpace? Outer space? You're joking,тАЭ Sheila exclaimed.
тАЬNo, we're not joking. Something ripped us up from the face of the
Earth. It's pulling us through space right now according to Officer Drake,тАЭ
Priscilla replied.
тАЬConway! That's probably what happened to Conway!тАЭ Sheila exclaimed.
тАЬThey tried to claim it was a sinkhole that the town was swallowed into
after the news had already shown pictures of the thirty-foot deep hole left
behind and talked to witnesses. They covered it up, but I know better!
We're going to where Conway went!тАЭ
тАЬConway? Do you really think this is related to that?тАЭ Priscilla asked. тАЬI
know the news reports changed after the first day, but that happens all the
time.тАЭ
тАЬIt sounds more reasonable right now to believe they got pulled into
space, too,тАЭ Jim said. тАЬHalt! Who's there?тАЭ
тАЬOfficer Pete Lion. Is it okay to come in naked? I don't want to alarm
the Warden or her secretary.тАЭ
тАЬWe're all naked, Officer Lion. Just come in and find a place to sit while
we gather our strength and intelligence. What post were you on?тАЭ Priscilla
said.
тАЬNorthwest tower. One moment we had a back wall, the next thing we
knew, the fog dropped down on us. The we discovered that the back wall
was gone. We couldn't see what happened to the convicts in the yard back
there. Not until we moved close enough to the edge of what was missing
and could see out of the fog. We must have left close to a hundred inmates
floating about in space. Dude, uh, Officer Dudley got sick. Almost made me
sick, too.тАЭ
тАЬClose to a hundred? Well, that lessens the odds considerably against
us. That could put the number down to three hundred. Is Officer Dudley
coming here?тАЭ Priscilla asked.
тАЬHe's watching the yard while I report. He didn't want to report because
he smells bad, Warden Honor,тАЭ Pete answered.