"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 5 -Appointment at Bloodstar" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

The room was dimmer than the corridor had been, but still had light enough to see by.
The door through which he had entered had slid automatically shut, and the ceiling had
lowered to just half a meter above the surface of the water, barely room for him to lift
his head and breathe. The walls were perfectly smooth, without a break or a handhold
in them. There was no sign of an exit anywhere.

The man continued treading water as he puzzled out this dilemma. There had to be
some way out of here; if it wasn't above water, then it must be below. Taking a deep
breath, he dipped below the surface to search for the exit.

The salt water stung his eyes, so he had to proceed by feel. The room was small,
basically a cube three meters on a side, and all but filled with water. But the water could
not occur here naturally; it had to come in from somewhere. He searched with his
fingers for the vent.

There! His hands had been passing over the smooth surface of the walls when
suddenly they encountered an empty space. Taking his time to explore the opening
fully, he ran his fingers around the edge. The hole was not quite a meter wide and less
than half of that high. It would be a tight squeeze, but he could manage to get out of
there. He surfaced once more for a gasp of air, then dived and pushed himself through
the opening.

At first, this narrow passageway continued level, and he despaired of its going
anywhere; but, after a couple of meters, it started sloping upward. Finally his head
broke the surface once more and he could breathe sweet, fresh air. Feeling both
mentally and physically exhausted, he dragged himself up the ramp onto a dry floor,
dreading whatever ordeal might be next in store for him.

There was only one door in the room, twenty meters away; unless he chose to return to
the water he would have to go through it. With a sigh he set out but, though the room
was bare of furnishings, it was not as easy to cross as it first appeared.


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An ultragrav unit had been planted under the floor, causing a gravity gradient as he
approached the door. Where he had emerged from the water the force was only one
Earth gravity, but it rose quickly as he moved. Within only a couple of meters it was up
to two and a half gravities. That in itself would not have been too bad, because that was
the gravitational strength on his own native world; but it went up still further as he
progressed. Within another few meters it was up to five gees, and the doorway looked
no nearer than it had before.

He felt as though he had a twin brother riding on his back. Coming on top of all his
previous exertions, this was torture. Keeping his head up was a major effort; moving his
limbs was a near miracle. He moved with a relentless determination to reach the portal.
Once there, he was sure, the ultragrav would shut off and he would return to Earth