"Eric Frank Russel - Mechanistria" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

rim and looked down. The next instant he let out a startled cry and was snatched from sight.
A big, broad-shouldered, bandy-legged engineer had followed behind Drake, and with apelike
speed reached out a thick, hairy arm to grab the disappearing manтАЩs harness straps. He missed, for a
moment stood defeated on the brink before he in his turn gave a gruff bellow and was whisked into
darkness. By now Brennand had got to the middle of the hole but stopped in his tracks when
MeNulty gave a warning shout.
Brennand wasnтАЩt taken. He contributed to the general yelp as something outside tried to snatch
him out of the tunnel, yelped louder when a snaking Martian tentacle wound round his waist and
lugged him back. It must have been an awful pull judging by the way Kli YangтАЩs many great
suckers flattened for anchorage on the floor.
With grim calmness, McNulty asked, тАЬWhat was it, Brennand?тАЭ
Before the other could reply there came a tremendous banging and clanking immediately
outside. A huge, square-ended and shining shape struggled into the airlock opening. It faced the
searchlight, being fully revealed in the glare. I had a good view of its boxlike front with a coiled
copper antenna sticking out the top like a caricature of a curl, and with a pair of big lenses staring at
the light with cobra like lack of emotion.
Without waiting for McNulty, the gunner at the pom-pom decided this was no time to write to
headquarters about the matter. He let fly. The din was terrific as the weaponтАЩs eight barrels
pounded like pistons and a stream of midget shells poured through the door-gap. The invading
creature appeared to dissolve before our very eyes, bits of rended metal, splinters of glassy
substance and empty shell-cases flying in all directions.
The invader no sooner had gone than another was there, peering into the inferno without a blink.
Same square end, same copper antenna, same cold, expressionless orbs. That, too, flew to pieces.
Another and another. The gunner was wild with excitement and busily cursing one of his left-side
feeders for being slow at the loading-rack.
A brief silence followed the wrecking of the fourth alien, a silence broken only by the rattle of
fresh ammunition-belts being draped around the pom-pom.
тАЬWell, the authorities at home canтАЩt play hell about this,тАЭ decided Captain McNulty. тАЬ Not after
IтАЩve had two men taken, not to mention the lifeboat.тАЭ He seemed to derive much comfort from the
thought that his conscience was clear.
Somebody pounded down the passage and into the lock, said to him, тАЬNumber three light just
showed Drake and Minshull. TheyтАЩve been carried away.тАЭ
тАЬThey arenтАЩt in the danger zone, then?тАЭ chipped in Jay Score. тАЬGood!тАЭ His eyes on the door-gap,
he posed with a casual air while his right hand jiggled one of those hell-eggs known as a pocket A-
bomb. Up and down, up and down, with a horrible nonchalance that made me want to scream and
jump on my dental plates.
тАЬFor PeteтАЩs sake, quit doing that!тАЭ protested someone who felt the same way I did.
Jay glanced around to see who was stroking a rabbitтАЩs foot. His eyes were cold, cold. Then he
thumbed the projecting stud, tossed the egg through the gap into outer darkness. Everyone
immediately grovelled, tried to push his own face through the floor and dig deep into bare earth,
McNulty included.
There came a flash of supernal brilliance followed by an awful roar that rolled the ship sidewise
onto its opposite atmospheric fin. After that, several slow heaves as of an earthquake.
A mutilated length of metal tentacle flew in from the dark, going whoo-whoo with sheer speed,
and cracked against the wall. Something faintly resembling the big end of a nautical telescope
ricocheted off the pom-pom shield, zipped over the crouching skipperтАЩs fat, uplifted beam, skinned
one of my earlobes, scored a long, yellowish mark along the steel floor.
If we expected more and lengthier silence outside, we were mistaken. The reverberations of the
explosion had only just died away when a noise of violently torn metal came from the MarathonтАЩs
stern, clanking feet and clattering claws hammered inward. Way back past the engine-room