"Lem - Seventh Voyage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lem Stanislaw)

we had fallen into a new vortex. Once again the ship shook as if in
a fever, but my only thought was to get to the corridor where the
spacesuit was hanging and put it on. For in that way (I reasoned)
when Wednesday became Thursday, I, as the Thursday me, would be
wearing that spacesuit, and if only I didn't take it off for a
single minute (and I was determined not to) then I would obviously
be wearing it on Friday also. And therefore the me on Thursday and
the me on Friday would both be in our spacesuits, so that when we
came together in the same present it would finally be possible to
fix that miserable rudder.



Part 5. The Friday Me
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The increasing thrust of gravity made my head swim, and when I
opened my eyes I noticed that I was lying to the right of the
Thursday me, and not to the left, as I had been a few moment before.
Now while it had been easy enough for me to develop this plan about
the spacesuit, it was considerably more difficult to put it into
action, since with the growing gravitation I could hardly move. When
it weakened just a little, I began to inch my way across the
floor--in the direction of the door that led to the corridor.
Meanwhile I noticed that the Thursday me was likewise heading for
the door, crawling on his belly towards the corridor. At last, after
about an hour, when the vortex had reached its widest point, we met
at the threshold, both flattened to the floor. Then I thought, why
should I have to strain myself to reach the handle? Let the Thursday
me do it. Yet at the same time I began to recall certain things
which clearly indicated that it was I now who was the Thursday me,
and not he.
"What day of the week are you?" I asked, to make sure. With my chin
pressed to the floor I looked him in the eye. Struggling, he opened
his mouth.
"Thurs--day--me," he groaned. Now that was odd. Could it be that, in
spite of everything, I was still the Wednesday me? Calling to mind
all my recollections of the recent past, I had to conclude that this
was out of the question. So he must have been the Friday me. For if
he had preceded me by a day before, then he was surely a day ahead
now. I waited for him to open the door, but apparently he expected
the same of me. The gravitation had now subsided noticeably, so I
got up and ran to the corridor. Just as I grabbed the spacesuit, he
tripped me, pulling it out of my hands, and I fell flat on my face.
"You dog!" I cried. "Tricking your own self--that's really low!"
He ignored me, stepping calmly into the spacesuit. The shamelessness
of it was appalling. Suddenly a strange force threw him from the
suit--as it turned out, someone was already inside. For a moment I
wavered, no longer knowing who was who.
"You, Wednesday!" called the one in the spacesuit. "Hold back
Thursday, help me!"