"Donald E. Wollheim - The Secret of the ninth Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wollheim Donald A)

carried only enough equipment for survival, plus the additional items that might
be needed for the emergency ahead.
The trek over the mountains was a hard one, the path narrow, steep, sometimes
nonexistent. There were few signs of Indians or animals, and it was plain that
few ever traveled over this range. The air was cold and thin, vegetation sparse
and hardy. All around them was the cold blue of the sky-- a shade darker than
usual-- and the gaunt peaks of ancient mountains. The Inca kings may have
claimed the land here, but even their hardy legions had never conquered these
lonely and hostile sky domains.
Panting and weary with hours of climbing, Burl and his father made a quick lunch
in a sheltered jumble of rock near the top. Then, shouldering their packs again,
they trudged on. At last they reached a point where the view of the other side
spread out before them-- a breathtakingly clear vision of the little valley
below.
As they looked down, the air seemed to shimmer and vibrate. Burl rubbed his
eyes. "It hurts," he said.
His father squinted. "There's a powerful vibrational effect. It may be a very
dangerous concentration of the invisible rays of the Sun as well as of light."
Once Burl had gotten used to the odd visual effect, which was like gazing into
the twisting heat rays rising from an overheated oven, he saw that there was a
small flat region between the mountains. And in the center of this valley was a
large black structure of some sort. The twisting effect of the light around it
made it impossible to tell more.
"That's it," said Burl. His father nodded, shifted the pack to ease his
shoulders, unstrapped the hunting rifle slung over his back, and carefully
checked its loads.
Burl saw what his father was doing and suddenly understood the danger. What
could be doing a thing like this? What but something not of this Earth?
Something of distant space, of a science beyond that of man-- and unfriendly
besides. Now, for the first time, Burl realized what he had not had time to
before-- this was an enemy he and his father were facing-- an enemy of all
mankind-- and utterly unknown.
He gulped, gripped his rifle, and followed his father down the sliding rocky
trail.
As they drew nearer the base of the mountain, the effects of the strange
vibrations grew more pronounced. Burl avoided looking directly ahead, keeping
his eyes on the ground before his feet, yet even so, he could not help noticing
how the stones around them seemed to shimmer in the invisible waves. From the
base of the valley the sky now seemed streaked with black and gray rings, as if
they were reaching the center of some atmospheric whirlpool. Out of the
mountains, after hours of arduous scrambling, they started across the barren
rocky plain.
Before them rose a vast circular structure several stories high, ominously black


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and without any sign of windows or doors. Above the building protruded two great
projections ending in huge, shining discs. One of the monstrous cuplike discs