" Perry Rhodan 0062 - (54) The Blue Dwarfs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Freddy did not move. The head emerged farther from the bush and behind it came a broad and flat scaly
body. The large, yellowish eyes seemed to be sizing Freddy up. The wide mouth was half-open,
revealing a row of sharp teeth. The animal moved, by undulating along its flat belly, producing the rustling
sound that had alerted Freddy.

A snake, Freddy thought in alarm. The creature pushed itself farther out of the underbrush and raised
itself so far up on its forebody that its repulsive head swayed back and forth less than 2 feet away from
FreddyтАЩs face. She could smell the stench that the reptile seemed to gush forth,

If only Milligan would come!

He was asleep, the idiot! How could he sleep when he had watch duty?

The snake oozed farther. Freddy forced herself not to follow the movements of its head with her eyes.
She was in the first place afraid of falling into some kind of trance and in the 2nd place it was possible the
back & forth motion of her eyeballs could be a movement the snake would notice.

Freddy did not know how long she sat there, unmoving.

Then there was a light humming to be heard from the south. It rapidly swelled into the familiar roaring of
the helicopter.

Horace was coming back!

For a few seconds FreddyтАЩs heart beat wildly with joy. Then, however, it struck her that Mullon would
not be able to see her from the helicopter and that he did not even have any intention of landing: he was
planning to fly on to survey the northern end of the valley.

The strange noise bothered the snake little. For some time its head swayed in a somewhat slower tempo
but as the humming faded away into the north it took up the old pace again and continued to stare at its
victim with cold, yellowish eyes.

Freddy sensed that she would not be able to hold out much longer. Sooner or later the moment would
come in which she simply collapsed, her nerves gone and her muscles no longer able to support her.

Somewhat later she heard a voice calling in the distance. It came nearer, then fell away and finally
approached so closely at one point she could clearly understand it:

"тАжFreddy! Mrs. Mullon! FreddyтАж!"

It was Milligan. He had awakened and begun to search for her.

Let him come here! Freddy prayed.

But Milligan did not come any nearer. His calls grew more distant again.

If she did not want to simply fall victim to the snake, Freddy realized she would have to attempt
something on her own initiative.
How fast was a snake?