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

surmounted by a tall radio mast. Twin antennae ran from this mast to another on a matching edifice
a hundred yards off. тАЬI think I can jump that gap,тАЭ Jay murmured.
тАЬNow take it easy,тАЭ advised Armstrong, looking over the edge at the big drop under that twenty-
five feet chasm. тАЬWait until the pinnace comes back. If you try a leap of this description and fail to
make it by a couple of inches, youтАЩll go down fast and far. YouтАЩll be converted into a thousand
souvenirs scattered over the street.тАЭ
Returning to the hole in our roof, Jay glanced down through it. тАЬThey are still waiting,тАЭ he
reported, тАЬbut they wonтАЩt wait for ever. TheyтАЩre likely to go into action before long.тАЭ He came
back, the tattered rags of his uniform flapping around his great stallite legs. тАЬSo IтАЩd better have a
little action on my own accountтАЭ
Before any of us could make a move to prevent him, heтАЩd measured his pace and started. There
was no stopping him once he was on his way : his solid and powerful three-hundred or more
pounds made too much mass for mere human muscles to oppose. Kli Yang, perhaps, might have
done it, but he didnтАЩt try.
With a superswift and well-timed run, Jay shot off the rim of our roof, arced over the intervening
street, landed with a good yard to spare. A second and easier jump carried him to the higher level.
Reaching the lattice-mast, he went up it like a monkey and tore away its antenna. Then he
returned; the same spectacular leap performed with the same margin.
тАЬSome day,тАЭ suggested Kli Yang, comfortingly, тАЬyou will get yourself electrocuted-if you donтАЩt
first break your neck.тАЭ He gestured to the street. тАЬIt may be coincidence or it may not, but some of
those machines have quit moving.тАЭ
It was true. Amid the hurly-burly below a number of automatons had become lifeless as statues.
They were all of the same kind. Other types were unaffected and jostled around as of yore. Coffins,
globes, wormlike things and large, lumbering mock-bulldozers went about their business as though
nothing had occurred, but the few specimens of this one particular type-an egg-bodied, spindle-
legged device-posed like ones petrified in their tracks.
тАЬIтАЩd say they have radio-animation,тАЭ ventured Jay. тАЬEach kind has its own waveband and its
own station from which it draws power.тАЭ He pointed to other masts sticking up all over the city. тАЬIf
we could put those out of action, I think weтАЩd stiffen the lot into temporary immobility.тАЭ тАЬWhy
temporary?тАЭ I asked. тАЬTo deprive them of power would be rather permanent, wouldnтАЩt it?тАЭ
тАЬNot necessarily. ThereтАЩs such a large variety of machines designed for every imaginable
function that ten to one theyтАЩve also got an independently-powered radio repair squad which would
come to life the moment everyone else went dead.тАЭ
Someone interjected, тАЬIf their radio mechanics look anything like an ambling lighthouse, thereтАЩs
one on his way here already.тАЭ He jerked an indicative thumb northward.
We looked that way. The object coming down the north road was fantastic in the extreme. It
consisted of a long metal platform running on-huge wheels ten to twelve feet in diameter. From the
centre of the platform rose a gradually tapering tubular body terminating in a many-lensed, many-
armed top piece more than sixty feet above ground level. The thing seemed taller than a fire-tower,
dominating the street and some of the buildings.
тАЬClap hands-here comes Charlie!тАЭ said the gentleman who owned the ancient pistol. He gripped
the out-of-date weapon with much determination. Compared with the oncoming colossus, the pistol
was absurd. One might as well hope to bring down a rogue elephant with spit-balls.
тАЬAn automatic erector, I think.тАЭ Jay watched it coolly, calmly. тАЬProbably it has been summoned
to pick us off.тАЭ
 The little gang of humans seemed damnably unconcerned about the matter. Maybe they were
trying to conceal feelings like those bubbling in my own insides. As the tremendous menace
rumbled slowly and inevitably nearer, my stomach shrank to a small, hard ball.
Down in the street the mechanical horde still went to and fro, while beneath the hole in the roof
waited another hungry pack. Jay might be able to get away by means of his mighty leaps from