"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

safely. "Did you see that?"
"So?" he said.
"Not 'so.' I asked if you saw it?"
"I saw it."
"Now drive the boot at the lowest speed over to the nut and stop two feet away from it. Got it?"
"Got it. Are you looking for graviconcentrates?"
"I'm looking for what I should be looking for. Wait, I'll throw another one. Watch where it goes and
don't take your eyes off it again."
The second nut also went fine and landed next to the first one.
"Let's go."
He started the boot. His face was calm and clear. Obviously he understood. They're all like that, the
eggheads, the most important thing for them is to find a name for things. Until he had come up with a
name, he was too pathetic to look atтАФa real idiot. But now that he had some label like graviconcentrate,
he thought that he understood everything and life was a breeze.
We passed the first nut, and the second, and a third. Tender was sighing and shifting from foot to foot
and yawning nervouslyтАФhe was feeling trapped, poor fellow. It would do him good. He'd knock off ten
pounds today, this was better than any diet. I threw a fourth nut. There was something wrong with its
trajectory. I couldn't explain what was wrong, but I sensed that it wasn't right. I grabbed Kirill's hand.
"Hold it," I said. "Don't move an inch."
I picked up another one and threw it higher and further. There it was, the mosquito mange! The nut
flew up normally and seemed to be dropping normally, but halfway down it was as if something pulled it
to the side, and pulled it so hard that when it landed it disappeared into the clay.
"Did you see that?" I whispered.
"Only in the movies." He was straining to see and I was afraid he'd fall out of the boot. "Throw
another one, huh?"
It was funny and sad. One! As though one would be enough! Oh, science. So I threw eight more nuts
and bolts until I knew the shape of this mange spot. To be honest, I could have gotten by with seven, but
I threw one just for him smack into the middle, so that he could enjoy his concentrate. It crashed into the
clay like it was a ten-pound weight instead of a bolt. It crashed and left a hole in the clay. He grunted
with pleasure.
"OK," I said, "we had our fun, now let's go. Watch closely. I'm throwing out a pathfinder, don't take
your eyes off it."
So we got around the mosquito mange spot and got up on the hillock. It was so small that it looked
like a cat turd. I had never even noticed it before. We hovered over the hillock. The asphalt was less than
twenty feet away. It was clear. I could see every blade of grass, every crack. It looked like a snap. Just
throw the nut and be on with it.
I couldn't throw the nut.
I didn't understand what was happening to me, but I just couldn't make up my mind to throw that nut.
"What's the matter?" asked Kirill. "Why are we just standing here?"
"Wait," I said. "Just shut up."
I thought I'd toss the nut and then we'll quietly move along, like coasting on melted butter, without
disturbing a blade of grass. Thirty seconds and we're on the asphalt. And suddenly I broke out in a
sweat! My eyes were blinded by it. And I knew that I wouldn't be throwing the nut there. To the left, as
many as you want. The road was longer that way, and there was a bunch of pebbles that didn't seem too
cozy, but I was ready to throw in that direction. But not straight ahead. Not for anything. So I threw the
nut to the left. Kirill said nothing, turned the boot, and drove up to the nut. Then he looked over at me. I
must have looked pretty bad because he looked away immediately.
"It's all right," I said. "The path around is faster." I tossed the last nut onto the asphalt.
It was a lot simpler after that. I found the crack, and it was still clean, not overgrown with any
garbage, and unchanged in color. I just looked at it and rejoiced in silence. It led us to the garage door