"Norton, Andre - Time Traders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

A few feet farther on, his shoulder slipped from the surface and he half tumbled into another open
door. But there was the wall again, and he clung to it thankfully. Another door . . . Ross paused,
trying to catch some faint sound, the slightest hint that he was not alone in this blindman's maze. But
without even air currents to stir it, the blackness itself took on a solidity which encased him as a
congealing jelly.
The wall ended. Ross kept his left hand on it, flailed out with his right, and felt his nails scrape
across another surface. The space separating the two surfaces was wider than any doorway. Was it a
cross-corridor? As he was about to make a wider arm sweep, he heard a sound. He was not alone.
Ross went back to the wall. Flattening himself against the wall, Ross tried to control the volume of
his own breathing in order to catch the slightest whisper of the other noise. He discovered that lack of
sight confuses the ear. He could not identify those clicks, that wisp of fluttering sound that might be
air displaced by the opening of another door.
Finally, he detected something moving at floor level. Someone or something must be creeping, not
walking, toward him. Ross pushed back around the corner. It never occurred to him to challenge the
crawler. An encounter in the dark could be dangerous. Who was his fellow explorer?
The sound of crawling was not steady. Long pauses convinced Ross that each rest was punctuated
by heavy breathing as if the crawler was finding progress an exhausting effort. He fought the picture
that persisted in his imagination--that of a wolf snuffling down the blacked-out hall. Caution
suggested a quick retreat, but Ross's urge to rebellion held him where he was, crouching, straining to
see what crept toward him.
Suddenly, blinding light blazed forth. Ross covered his dazzled eyes. And he heard a cry of despair
from near floor level. The light that normally filled hall and room was steady again. Ross found
himself standing at the juncture of two corridors--he was absurdly pleased to have deduced that
correctly--and the crawler--?
A man--at least the figure was a two-legged, two-armed manlike form--was lying several yards
away. But the body was so wrapped in bandages and the head so totally muffled, that it lacked all
identity.
One of the mittened hands stirred, raising the body slightly so it could squirm forward an inch or
so. Before Ross could move, a man ran into the corridor from the far end. It was Major Kelgarries.
Ross licked his lips as the major went down on his knees beside the creature on the floor.
"Hardy! Hardy!" That voice, which carried the snap of command whenever it addressed Ross, was
now warmly human. "Hardy, man!" The major's hands were on the bandaged body, lifting it, easing
the head and shoulders back against his arm. "It's all right, Hardy. You're back--safe. This is the
base, Hardy." He spoke slowly, soothingly, as if comforting a frightened child.
Those mittened paws which had beat feebly in the air fell onto the bandage-wreathed chest.
"Back--safe--" The voice croaked rustily behind the face mask.
"Back, safe," the major assured him.
"Dark--dark all around again--" protested the croak.
"Just a power failure, man. Everything's all right now. We'll get you into bed."
The mitten pawed again until it touched Kelgarries' arm. It flexed a little as if the hand under it
was trying to grip.
"Safe--?"
"You bet you are!" The major's tone carried reassurance. Kelgarries looked up at Ross as if he
knew the other had been there all the time.
"Murdock, get down to the end room. Call Dr. Farrell!"
"Yes, sir!" The "sir" came so automatically that Ross had already reached the end room before he
realized he had used it.
Nobody explained matters to Ross Murdock. The bandaged Hardy was carried away by the doctor
and two attendants. The major walked beside the stretcher, still holding one of the mittened hands in
his. Ross hesitated, sure he wasn't supposed to follow, but not prepared to explore farther or return to