"Andre Norton - Here Abide Monsters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

light of Navy planes went there, and the rescue ship after them. There hav
e been planes and ships and people-and on land, in other places, army regi
ments even." Though he did not want to remember, all the stories he had re
ad flooded back into his mind. "They just flew, or rode, or walked into-no
where."
Linda sat very still. She no longer watched him. Her gaze was straight ahead
at that giant tree trunk against which the jeep was nosed.
"What-what is the theory about it then?" Her voice quivered a little. Nick cou
ld sense her effort at control.
"One is that there is a magnetic field like a whirlpool-that anything caught
 in it may be thrown into another space-time continuum."
"And-that may be what has happened to us? How do we get back?"
There was no answer to that. There never had been through all the centuries o
f such disappearances. Nick stared at the tree too now, fiercely willing it t
o vanish, for them to be back in the Cut-Off.
"There is no return." Linda made that a flat statement rather than a question.
"We-we're trapped in this-this place!"
"No!" Nick exploded. "We're not sure of that! Anyway we can try-we can alwa
ys try-but"-he regarded the dim, shadowed places under the trees uneasily-"
let's get out of here. On to the lake-"
He had a feeling that they were under observation, not that he could detect
any movement, any sign they were not alone. To get out of this place of tr
ees, where a man was dwarfed and lost, into the open was a desire goading h
im to action.
"We can't take the jeep." Linda stated the obvious.
"No, but I can the bike-push it now-and we can ride if the road gets better a
nd you are willing to hold on."
"Yes! Yes, let's get out of here!" Her reply was feverishly eager.
She opened her shoulder bag, took out a leash she hooked to Lung's collar. "
My bag-it's small." She reached into the back of the jeep, pulled out a canv
as duffel bag. Then she laughed, though that sound was a little ragged. "All
that stuff back there for the party tonight Jane-Jane may have to wait some
for it."
Nick's foreboding lightened. Linda was taking it well. Did she really belie
ve him? Did he believe himself? But his first panic had subsided. And actio
n drew him. Maybe if they could just find the lake, a familiar landmark-Don
't think of any future beyond the next few minutes, he warned himself.
Mentally he inventoried the contents of his saddlebags-first-aid kit, sweater
, swimming trunks, matches, a hunting knife, flashlight, chocolate bars, wate
r canteen, two shirts, tool kit for the bike-transistor radio-Radio!
He was out of the jeep, hurrying back to the bike. Radio-if they could hear
anything on that-Nick fumbled with the buckles of the saddlebag as Linda j
oined him.
"What is it?"
"My radio-if we can pick up anything-"
"Oh, hurry!" She shifted from one foot to the other impatiently as he untangl
ed the gear and brought out the small transistor.
Three stations, he nipped the switch from one to the next. Only silence. Th
en-A gabble of sound, not static, more like speech. But not in any language
he had picked up before.