"Rocklynne, Ross - Time Wants a Skeleton" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rocklynne Ross)

"Put it down on the floor at your feet," said Overland, "since someone may have previously concealed a straw." Tony put it down, face stony.
The straw was as long as the book was wide.
Braker said, in an ugly tone, "Well, I'll be damned!" Braker drew a shorter one. He put it down.
Yates drew a still shorter one. His smile of bravado vanished. Sweat stood suddenly on his pale forehead.
"Go ahead, Masters!" he grated. "The law of averages says you'll draw a long one."
"I don't believe in the law of averages," said Masters sulkily. "Not on this planet, anywayЧ I'll relinquish the chance to Laurette."
"That," said Laurette, "is sweet of you."
She took a straw without hesitation.
Masters said nervously, "It's short, isn't it?"
"Shorter than mine." Yates breath came out in a long sigh. "Go ahead, Masters. Only one straw left, so you don't have to make a decision."
Masters jerked it out.
He put it on the floor. It was long.
A cry burst from Overland's lips. "Laurette!"
She faced their silent stares with curled lips.
"That's that. I hope my hundred and five helps."
Tony dropped his cigarette. "It won't," he snapped. "We were fools for including you."
Suddenly he was watching Braker out of the corner of his eye, his nerves tense.
Overland said in a whisper, "How could I suggest leaving my daughter out? I said a hundred pounds might be the margin. If I'd have suggested leaving her out, you'd have accused me of favoritism."
Braker said casually, "There's only going to be one lottery held here."
Yates looked dumfounded. "Why, you blasted fool," he said. "What if we're stuck back here before the human race and there ain't any women?"
"That's what I mean. I thought we'd include the girl. If she was drawn, then we could ask some gentleman to volunteer in her place."
He made a sudden motion. Tony made a faster one. His Hampton came out and up.
"Drop it!" he rasped. "I saidЧdrop it!"
Braker's eyes bulged. He looked at the Hampton as if he were unable to comprehend it. He cursed rackingly and dropped the automatic as if it were infested with a radioactive element. It clattered on the metal grating of the denuded floor.
A smile froze on Tony's lips. "Now you can explain where you got that automatic."
Braker, eyes fuming like those of a trapped animal, involuntarily shot a glance at Masters.
Tony turned his head slightly toward Masters. "It would be you," he said bitterly.
He whirledЧtoo late. Yates hurtled toward him, struck him in a flying tackle. Tony fell audibly. He tangled furiously with Yates. No good! Braker, face contorted with glee, leaped on top of him, struggled mightily, and then with the main force of his two gloved hands wrenched the Hampton away, rolled from Tony's reach, then snapped himself to his feet, panting.
"Thanks, Yates!" he exclaimed. "Now get up, Crow. Get up. What a man. What a big hulking man. Weighs two hundred if he weighs an ounce." His lips curled vengefully. "Now get up and get out!"
Overland made a step forward, falteringly.
Braker waved the weapon all-inclusively.
"Back, you," he snarled. "This is my party, and it's a bad-taste party, too. Yates, corner the girl. Masters, stand stillЧyou're my friend if you want to be. All right, lieutenant, get goingЧand dig! For the ring!" His face screwed up sadistically. "Can't disappoint that skeleton, can we?"

Tony came to his feet slowly, heart pounding with what seemed like long-spaced blows against his ribs. Painfully, his eyes ran from face to face, finally centered on Laurette's.
She surged forward against Yates' retaining grip.
"Don't let them do it, lieutenant," she cried. "It's a dirty trick. You're the one person out of the four who doesn't deserve it. I'llЧ" She slumped back, her voice fading, her eyes burning. She laughed jerkily. "I was just remembering what you did when all the Christmas packages came tumbling down on us. You kissed me, and I slapped you, but I really wanted you to kiss me again."
Yates laughed nastily. "Well, would you listen to that. Masters, you going to stand there and watch them two making love?"
Masters shuddered, his face graying. He whispered, "It's all right. I wishЧ"
"Cut out the talk!" Braker broke in irritably.
Tony said, as if the other conversation had not intervened, "I wanted to kiss you again, too." He held her wide, unbelieving eyes for a long moment, then dropped his and bit at his shuddering lower lip. It seemed impossible to stand here and realize that this was defeat and that there was no defense against it! He shivered with an unnatural jerk of the shoulders.
"All right," Braker said caustically, "get going."
Tony stood where he was. Braker and everybody else except Laurette Overland faded. Her face came out of the mist, wild, tense, lovely and lovable. Tears were coming from her eyes, and her racking sobs were muted. For a long moment, he hungrily drank in that last glimpse of her.
"Lieutenant!"
He said dully, his eyes adding what his lips did not, "Good-bye, Laurette."
He turned, went toward the air lock with dragging feet, like a man who leaves the death house only to walk toward a worse fate. He stopped at the air lock. Braker's gun prodded him.
He stood faintly in the air lock until Braker said, "Out, copper! Get moving."
And then he stepped through, the night and the wild wind enclosing him, the baleful light of the invading planet washing at him.
Faintly he heard Braker's jeering voice, "So long, copper." Then, with grim, ponderous finality, came the wheeze of the closing air lock.
He wandered into the night for a hundred feet, somehow toward the vast pile that had been extracted from the ship's interior. He seemed lost in unreality. This was the pain that went beyond all pains, and therefore numbed.
He turned. A blast of livid flame burst from the ship's main tube. Smaller parallels of fire suddenly ringed it. The ship moved. It slid along the plain on its runners, hugged the ground for two hundred feet, plummeting down the slope. Tony found himself tense, praying staccato curses. Another hundred feet. The escarpment loomed.