"Leinster, Murray - The Fifth-Dimension Tube UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

УThe gas is cut off!Ф shouted Tommy again. УWhoТs there?Ф
A voice gasped from the TubeТs depths:
УItТs him!Ф The tone was made metallic by echoing and reechoing in the bends of the Tube, but it was Smithers. УWeТre cominТ, Mr. Reames.Ф
УIsЧis Daddy there?Ф called Evelyn eagerly. УDaddy!Ф
УComing,Ф said a grim voice.
The clattering grew nearer. A goggled, gas-masked head appeared, and a body followed it out of the Tube, laden with a multitude of burdens. A second climbed still more heavily after the first. The brightly-colored citizens of the Golden City reached quietly to the weapons at their waists. A third voice came up the Tube, distant and nearly unintelligible. It roared a question.
Smithers ripped off his gas mask and said distinctly:
УSure weТre through. Go ahead. AnТ go to hell!Ф
Then there was a thunderous detonation somewhere down in the TubeТs depths. The visible part of it jerked spasmodically and cracked across. A wisp of brownish smoke puffed out of it, and the stinging reek of high explosive tainted the air. Then Evelyn was clinging close to her father, and he was patting her comfortingly, and Smithers was pumping both of TommyТs hands, his normal calmness torn from him for once. But after a bare moment he had gripped himself again. He unloaded an impressive number of parcels from about his person. Then he regarded the citizens of the Golden City with an impersonal, estimating gaze, ignoring twenty weapons trained upon him.
УThose damn fools back on Earth,Ф he observed impassively, Уdecided the professor anТ me was better off of it. So they let us come through the Tube before they blew it up. We brought the explosive bullets, Mr. Reames. I hope we brought enough.Ф
And Tommy grinned elatedly as Denham turned to crush his hands in his own.

CHAPTER VIII
УThose Devils Have Got Evelyn!Ф
T HAT night the three of them talked, on a high terrace with most of the Golden City spread out below them. Over their heads, lights of many colors moved and shifted
slowly in the sky. There were a myriad glowing specks of saffron-red about the ways of the city, and the air was full of fragrant odors. The breath of the jungle reached them even a thousand feet above ground. And the dull, persistent roar of the machines reached them too. There were five people on the terrace: Tommy, Denham, Smithers, Aten and the whitebearded old Keeper of Foodstuffs. He looked on as the Earthmen talked.
УWeТre marooned,Ф Tommy was saying crisply, Уand for the time being weТve got to throw in with these people. I believe they came from Earth originally. Four, five thousand years ago, perhaps. Their tale is of a cave they sealed up behind them. It might have been a primitive Tube, if such a thing can be imagined.Ф
Denham filled his pipe and lighted it meditatively.
УHalf the American Indian tribes,Ф he observed drily, Уhad legends of coming originally from an underworld. I wonder if Tubes are less your own invention than we thought?Ф
Tommy shrugged.
УIn any case, Earth is safe.Ф
УIs it?Ф insisted Denham. УYou say they understood at once when you talked of dimension-travel. Ask the old chap there.Ф

TOMMY frowned, then labored with the question. The bearded old man spoke gravely. At his answer, Tommy grimaced.
УDatlТs gone looking for the cave their legends tell of,Ф he said reluctantly. УHeТs the lad who wanted the city to gas Earth with some ghastly stuff they know of, and move over when the gas was harmless again. But the cave has been lost for centuries, and itТs in the torrid zoneЧwhich is torrid! WeТre near the North Pole of this planet, and itТs tropic here. It must be mighty hot at the equator. Datl took a ship and supplies and sailed off. He may be killed. In any case itТll be some time before heТs dangerous. Meanwhile, as I said, weТre marooned.Ф
УAnd more,Ф said Denham deliberately. УBy the time the authorities halfway believed me, and Von Holtz could talk, there were more deaths from the Death Mist. It wiped out a village, clean. So when it was realized that IТd caused itЧor that was their interpretationЧand was the only man who
could cause it again, why, the authorities thought it a splendid idea for me to come through the Tube. TiТiey invited me to commit suicide. My knowledge was too dangerous for a man to have. So,Ф he added grimly, УI have committed suicide. We will not be welcomed back on Earth, Tommy.Ф
Tommy made an impatient gesture.
УWorry about that later,Ф he said impatiently. УRight now thereТs a war on. RahnТs desperate, and the prisoners we took this morning say Jacaro and his gunmen are there, advising them. Ragged Men have joined in to help kill civilized humans. And theyТve still got aircraft.Ф
УWhich can still bombard this city,Ф observed Denham. УCanТt they?Ф
Tommy pointed to the many-colored beams of light playing through the sky overhead.
УNo. Those lights were invented to guide night-flying planes back home. TheyТre static lightsЧcold lights, by the wayЧand they register powerfully when a static-discharge propeller comes within range of them. If Rahn tries a iiight attack, Aten and I take off and shoot them down again. ThatТs that. But weТve got to design gas masks for these people, and I think I can persuade the Council to send over and take all RahnТs aircraft away to-morrow. But the real emergency is the jungle.Ф

HE expounded the situation of the city as he understood it.
He labored painstakingly to make his meaning clear
while Denham blew meditative smoke rings and Smithers listened quietly. But when Tommy had finished, Smithers said in
a vast calm:
УSay, Mr. Reames, yТknow I asked you to get somebody to take me through some oТ these engine rooms. ThatТs kinda my specialty. AnТ these folks are good, no question! ThereТs enginesЧeven steam enginesЧwe couldnТt build on Earth. But, my Gawd, theyТre dumb! There ainТt a piece of automatic machinery on the place. ThereТs one man to every motor, handlinТ the controls or the throttle. They got stuff we couldnТt come near, but they never thought of a steam governor.Ф
Tommy turned kindling eyes upon him. УGo on!Ф
УHell,Ф said Smithers, Уgimme some tools anТ IТll go through
one shop anТ cut the workinТ force in half, just slamminТ governors, reducinТ valves, anТ automatic cut-offs on the machines I understand!Ф
Tommy jumped to his feet. He paced up and down, then halted and began to spout at Aten and the Keeper of Foodstuffs. He gesticulated, fumbling for words, and hunted absurdly for the ones he wanted among his written lists, and finally was drawing excitedly on AtenТs black-metal tablet. Smithers got up and looked over his shoulder.
УThat ainТt it, Mr. Reames,Ф he said slowly. УMaybe I . .

TOMMY pressed the stud that erased the page. Smithers took the tablet and began to draw painstakingly. Aten, watching, exclaimed suddenly. Smithers was drawing an actual machine, actually used in the Golden City, and he was making a working sketch of a governor so that it would operate without supervision while the steam pressure continued. Aten began to talk excitedly. The Keeper of Foodstuffs took the tablet and examined it. He looked blank, then amazed, and as the utterly foreign idea of a machine which controlled itself struck home, his hands shook and color deepened in his cheeks.
He gave an order to Aten, who dashed away. In ten minutes other men began to arrive. They bent over the drawing. Excited comments, discussions and disputes began. A dawning enthusiasm manifested itself. Two of them approached Smithers respectfully, with shining eyes. They drew their tablets from their belts, rather skilfully drew the governor he had indicated in larger scale, and by gestures asked for more detailed plans. Smithers stood up to go with them.
УYouТre a hero, now, Smithers,Ф Tommy informed him exultantly. УTheyТll work you to death and call you blessed!Ф
УYes, sir,Ф said Smithers. УThese fellas are right good mechanics. They just happened to miss this trick.Ф He paused. УUhЧwhereТs Miss Evelyn?Ф
УWith AtenТsЧwife,Ф said Tommy. This was no time to discuss the marital system of Yugna. УWe were prisoners until this morning. Now weТre guests of honor. EvelynТs talking to a lot of women and trying to boost our prestige.Ф
S MITHERS went over to the gesticulating group of draftsmen. He settled down to explain by~drawings, since he had not a word of their language. In a few minutes a group went rushing away with the sketch tablets held jealously to their breasts, bound for workshops. Other men appeared to present new problems. A wave of sheer enthusiasm was in being. A new idea which would lessen the demands of the machines was a godsend to these folk.