"Manly Wade Wellman - Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wellman Manly Wade)

shoulders, seeming to spread them like the hood of a cobra. "I showed him the crystalтАФour crystal, my
dear fellowтАФand what do you suppose that insufferable ass said of it?"
"I am eager to be told," said Holmes.
"He accused me of mechanical trickery, mentioned the names of stage conjurors like Alexander
Hermann, Robert Houdin, this new fellow Kellar." Challenger's mighty hands opened and shut
convulsively, "He smiled and thanked me for what he called an amusing experi-ment in misdirection. He
spoke of raree-shows and magic lanterns, and when I protested, he left, he fairly ran out of the house. It
was a highly undignified ex-hibition, but only to be expected of such a subhuman intellect, such an
insolent, spiteful, jealous nature."
"You protested, you say."
"Naturally. I rose to my feet to do so."
"And did you threaten violence?" suggested Holmes.
"I may have conveyed some impression." Again the mighty shoulders heaved. "All this confirms my
earlier assurance that no scientific pedant can be en-trusted with our secret."
Holmes walked to the table. The crystal egg lay there, softly glowing.
"It is hard to understand how he could look on that landscape and not be impressed," he said.
"He did not see the landscape. There was another view, entirely different. It seems to be some sort of
interior chamber. But see for yourself."
They sat down and covered their heads with the black cloth. Challenger took up the crystal, turning it
carefully. "Now you may verify what I told you."
The luminous haze cleared. Holmes saw a dimly lighted enclosure of sorts, its contents showing faintly
among shadows. There was a girdered bulkhead, against which were ranged complicated mechanical
assemblies. One or two reminded him of things in previous viewings. On the decklike floor sprawled
several Martians. Glad for this view, the closest view of them that he had ever had, he studied them
thoughtfully. Their silent, bladdery bodies were brownish-gray and shown like wet leather.
"Observe that dampness of their bodies," said Holmes.
"I suppose it to be perspiration," said Challenger.
"Perhaps, but I wonder if it is some excretory secre-tion from the skin. These Martians differ
enormously from us in physical structure. Their entire digestive and excretory functions may be utterly
alien to our experience."
The Martians lay utterly motionless, but their eyes seemed fixed and brilliant. Holmes wondered if they
ever slept at all. The two sprays of tentacles of one of them lay upon an intricate mechanism, some sort
of keyboard.
"Their communication device, the one formerly on the tall mast, has been moved," Holmes suggested.
"Obviously," said Challenger.
"We see a compartment, perhaps inside a vehicle of some sort."
"Exactly," Challenger's head wagged under the cloth. "Holmes, they are in a traveling ship or car,
heading toward earth, and they have taken their own crystal to guide them. You have not told me your
conclusions as yet."
 "Have you a theory?"
"One I am not ready to divulge, even to you; but the clear fact is that they are traveling across space to
us."
He emerged into the light. "I would have thought this fact evident to the dimmest rationality, but I never
counted on a rationality so dim as that of Stent."
Holmes, too, threw off the drape and rose. "He might have been convinced had he seen the landscape
we saw. This drab interior, with no motion or sign of life, is less convincing. Did you explain to him?"
Challenger's chair creaked as he leaned back. "There was no time. We spoke warmly to each other.
Had I not remembered my reputation for dignity and re-straint, I might have thrown him bodily into the
street."
"But what is the purpose of this Martian expedition?" said Holmes.