"Barry Longyear - Circusworld 2 - Elephant song" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

He rubbed his eyes, sat down on the edge of a couch, and looked at the shuttle's pilot. "Somebody
said something about the bulls."

Fireball Hanah Sanagi squatted next to him. "Bullhook, it's hell down there. The outside hatch to
the loading runs is jammed. The bulls are going crazy." The pilot stood and shouted toward the
hands that stabbed at the communications bank. "What about fire control?"

"Forget it."

"Anything yet from the other cars?"

"Not yet."

Bullhook Willy got to his feet and supported himself against the couch's backrest as a crackle
filled the compartment. "Hey! It's Number Ten! One, Four, Five, and Ten are within sight of each
other near a big body of water." The crewmember talked rapidly into the communications system.
"We're pretty bunged up. Came to a stop against a mountain. Heard anything from the others?"

He squinted his eyes against the light coming through the cockpit observation ports. Through them
he could see bright sky, green trees hung with golden hair, a range of mountains.

More crackling. "Wait! I'm getting a strong signal from Number Six. Six can see Number Eight.
Eight can't see Nine, but is getting a good signal. Number Two? Where are you, Number Two?"
Silence. "Can anyone get a signal from Two? What about Seven?" Crackles, desperate calls, silence.
"Okay, let's try and figure out how far we are from each other and in what relation."

On the couch rested a meter-long gold-tipped hook and goad. Bullhook Willy picked it up, turned,
pulled himself through the compartment door, and headed down the dark companion way. The smell of
it. Hot insulation, boiling hydraulic fluid, and overpowering every other odor, the smell of
burning flesh-.

The frantic calls from the control cabin were soon covered by the screams of the animals. He
turned into the companion-way leading to the huge cage of rotating tubes that held the

elephants. An emergency light flashed in his face, then out of the darkness and smoke a voice
yelled.

"Pony! Pony Red! It's Bullhook1 The boss elephant man is here!"

Bullhook held his hand'between the light and his eyes. "Waxy, you want to get that damn light out
of my face."

The beam of light dropped as Bullhook supported himself by placing a hand against a bulkhead. The
bulkhead was hot. Too hot. That was the smaller port carrousel containing half of the remaining
Perches. Bullhook withdrew his hand. "Waxy, what about the horses?"

The dark shape holding the emergency light shook his head. "No good. Pony Red had to seal off the
port carrousel to try and contain the fire. Doesn't look good. There's no fire in the starboard
horse barn and in the main carrousel, but the smoke and lack of air is driving the nags and bulls