"Judith Merril - Homecalling" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merril Judith)

HOMECALLING

I

THERE WAS NO warning. Deborah heard her mother shout, `Dee! Grab the
baby!'
Petey's limbs hung loose; his pink young mouth fell open as he bounced off the
foam-padded floor of the play-space, hit more foam on the sidewall, at a neat
ninety-degree angle, and bounced once more. The small ship finished upending
itself, lost the last of its spin, and hurled itself surfaceward under constant
accelera-tion. Wall turned to ceiling, ceiling to floor and Petey landed smack on his
fat bottom against the foam-protected toy-bin. Unhurt but horrified, he added a lusty
wail to the ever shriller screaming of the alien atmosphere, and the mighty
reverbera-tions of the rocket's thunder.
'... the bay-beeee ... Dee!'
'I got him.' Deborah hooked a finger finally through her brother 's overall strap, and
demanded : 'What do I do now?'
'I don't know; hold on to him. Wait a minute.' Sarah Levin turned her head with
difficulty towards her husband. `John,' she whispered, 'what's going to happen?'
He gnawed at his lower lip, tried to quirk a smile out of the side of his mouth
nearest her. 'Not good,' he said, very low. 'The children? '
'Dunn. ' He struggled with levers, frantically trying to fire the
tail rocketsтАФnow, after their sudden space-somersault became
the forward jets. 'Don 't know what 's wrong,' he muttered fiercely. 'Mommy, it
hurts..?
Petey was really crying now, low and steady sobbing, and Dee whimpered again,
'It hurts. I can 't get up. '
'Daddy 's trying to fix it,' Sarah said. 'Dee ... listen..? It washard to talk 'If you can,
try to ... kind of ... wrap yourseh around Petey ...'
`I can't..? Deborah too broke into sobs.
Seconds of waiting, slow eternal seconds; then incredibly, gout of flame burst out
ahead of them.
The braking force of the forward rocket eased the pressure inside, and Dee
ricocheted off a foamed surfaceтАФwall, floor cellтАв ing? She didn't knowтАФher finger
still stuck tight through Petey'; strap. The ground, strange orange-red terrain with
towering bluish trees, was close. Too close. There was barely time before the crash
for Sarah to shout a last reminder.
'...right around him!' she yelled. Dee understood; she pulled her baby brother
close to her chest and wound her arms and leg( around his body. Then there was
crashing splintering jagged noise through all the world.

It was too warm. Dee didn't want to look, but she opened an eye.
Nothing to see but foam-padded sides of the play-space, with the toys scattered
all over.
A bell jangled, and a mechanical voice began: 'Fire ... Fire .. . Fire ... Fire ... Fire .
. .' Dee knew what to do. She wondered about letting go of Petey, but she'd have to,
she couldn't ask her mother, because the safety door was closed. Her mother and
father were both on the other side in frontтАФthat was where the fire would be. She
wondered if they'd get burned up, but let go of Petey, and worked the escape lock
the way she'd been taught. While it was opening, she put on Petey's oxy mask and