"Donald Westlake - SH4 - The World's A Stage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Westlake Donald E)

тАЬStruck?тАЩ Echoed the captain. тАЬStruck?тАЭ

тАЬTheatrical term,тАЭ Pam told him. тАЬIt means to dismantle a set and take it off the stage.тАЭ

тАЬYou canтАЩt dismantle a spaceship, тАЬ the captain said. тАЬNot in half an hour.тАЭ

тАЬNo,тАЭ Ensign Benson said, through clenched jaws. Smoke seemed to be coming out of his ears. тАЬBut you
can put a curtain around it.тАЭ Glaring at Hester as though it were her fault, he said, тАЬOur ship is surrounded
by your goddamn bent molecules!тАЭ



Darkness fell, a bit at a time. тАЬI think,тАЭ said the captain inaccurately, тАЬI think weтАЩll just have to sleep on
the ground.тАЭ

тАЬLike camping out!тАЭ said the irrepressible Billy.

тАЬWithout the camp,тАЭ said the repressible councilman.

The captain said, тАЬWeтАЩll each have to find a declivity to sleep in.тАЭ

тАЬAmen,тАЭ said the councilman.



тАЬKybee,тАЭ Pam said, тАЬThis is my declivity.тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs important to retain our body heat,тАЭ Ensign Benson explained, trying to hunker down beside her.

тАЬThank you, Kybee,тАЭ Pam said, тАЬBut IтАЩm really quite warm enough sleeping by myself.тАЭ

тАЬYou would be,тАЭ Ensign Benson muttered, thumping off across the darkling plain and all at once running
into a spider web. тАЬPtchah!тАЭ he cried, flailing at the web, then realized it wasnтАЩt a web at all. It was a, it
was some sort of, it felt like a thin sheet or a ---

Curtain.

тАЬOh, boy,тАЭ Ensign Benson said. Feeling the material with both hands, maintaining a lot of body contact
with this drapery, he sidled along to the right, noticing how clothlike it was, giving when he pressed but
resisting when he pressed too hard. Somewhere there would be, there had to be, an opening.

There. His right hand slipped off the curtainтАЩs edge and fell forward against unresisting air, and all at once,
instead of HestiaтАЩs dull but protracted set, he was looking at somebodyтАЩs drawing room.

Comedy-of-manners time. A sofa centered, telephone on stand to its left. Several upstage doors for
slamming. Occasional furniture along the walls. Steady, not-too-bright light, source uncertain.

Ensign Benson stepped through the break and inspected more closely. Windows fakes with painted
views. Bookcase a painted fa├зade. Telephone nonoperative. Water in ashtray, soap on mirror. Some
sort of mottled obscurity high above blocking the sky. Sofa real and soft.