"Judith Merril - Beyond Human Ken" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merril Judith)

leg isn't pretty enough for you to pull. But thisтАФthisтАФ Look, the house may have been dropped by a
passing plane; or possibly Charles Fort had the right idea. What you're trying to tell me about the
furniture, though .. . It makes for belly butterflies !"
"Mine have electric fans on their wings," he assured her. "When I first saw this place, I had to look
twice at the sun to make sure it hadn't turned green. When I opened the door, I knew I was color-blind.
Let's amble into the kitchen. If there's a certain refrigerator-sink-stove combination .. ."
There was. Paul Marquis gripped the sleek enamel and whis-tled "The Pilgrim's Chorus" through his
teeth.
"I will a-ask you to c-consider this f-fact," he said at last, shakenly. "This particular rig is one which I
worked out on the back of an envelope from Caroline at three-fifteen yesterday when the big dredge got
kinked up and I had nothing else to do. Prior to that time, all I knew was that I wanted something slightly
different in the way of an all-in-one kitchen unit. This is what I drew."
Esther patted the sides of her face as if she were trying to slap herself back into sanity ever so gently.
"Yes, I know."
"You do?"
"You may not remember, Mr. Marquis, but you showed me the drawing in the mess hall at supper.
Since it was too fantasti-cally expensive to be considered seriously, I suggested shaping the refrigerator
like a sphere so that it would fit into the curve of the stove. You chucked out your lower lip and agreed.
The refrigerator is shaped like a sphere and fits into the curve of the stove."
Paul opened a cupboard and pulled out a rainbow-splashed tumbler. "I'm going to get a drink, even if
it's water!"
He held the tumbler under the projecting faucet and reached for a button marked "cold." Before his
questing finger pressed it, however, a stream of ice-cold fluid spurted out of the faucet, filled the glass
and stopped without a trickle.
The physicist exhaled at the completely dry bottom surface of the sink. He tightened his fingers
convulsively on the tumbler and poured its contents down his throat. A moment passed, while his head
was thrown back; then Esther, who had been leaning against the smooth wall, saw him began to gag. She
reached his side just as the coughs died away and the tears started to leak out of his eyes.
"Whoo-oof!" he exclaimed. "That was whiskyтАФthe finest Scotch ever to pass these tired old lips.
Just as it started to pour, I thought to myself: 'What you need, friend, is a good swift slug of Scotch.' And
EstherтАФthat's what that water was! Talk about miracles !"
"I don't like this," the brown-haired woman decided posi-tively. She pulled a small glass vial from a
breast pocket. "Whisky, water or whatever it isтАФI'm going to get a sample and analyze it. You've no
idea how many varieties of algae I've seen in the water up here. I think the presence of radioactive ore . .
. Hullo. It doesn't work."
With thumb and forefinger, she pressed the hot and cold water buttons until the flesh under her
fingernails turned white. The faucet remained impassively dry.
Paul came over and bent his head under the metal arm. He straightened and smiled impishly. "Pour,
water!" he com-manded. Again water spat from the faucet, this time describing a curve to where Esther
Sakarian had moved the vial to permit her companion to examine the plumbing. When the vial was full,
the water stopped.
"Yup !" Paul grinned at the gasping bacteriologist. "Those buttons, the drainтАФthey're only for display.
This house does exactly what's required of itтАФbut only when I require it ! I have a robot house here, Es,
and it's mine, all mine!"
She dosed the vial and replaced it in her pocket. "I think it's a little more than that. Let's get out of
here, Paul. Outside of the obvious impossibility of this whole business, there are a couple of things that
don't check. I'd like to have Connor Kuntz up here to go over the place. Besides, we'd better get started
if we're to make Little Fermi before the sun goes down."
"You don't tell Kuntz about this," Paul warned her as they moved toward the already opening door.
"I don't want him fussing up my robot house with his sterile erudition and intel-lectual cliches."