"Arcady And Boris Strugatsky. Prisoners of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора

ejectors, all automatic and self-propelled. And all this was still very much
alive twenty years after the war; everything continued to live its useless
mechanical life - to aim, to sight, to belch lead, fire, and death. All
this had to be crushed, blown up, and demolished to clear a road for the
construction of new radiation towers. At night Vepr maintained his usual
silence, and Zef harassed Maxim with questions, alternating between a
directness bordering on the absurd and a surprising cunning and agility. And
there was the almost inedible food, the prisoners' strange melodies, and the
beatings by the legionnaires. And twice daily everyone in the barracks and
the forest writhed in pain under the radiation emitter's blows. Bodies of
escapees swung in the wind. Day - night, day - night. Auschwitz. Death
camp. Fascism.
"Why did you want to stop the tank?" asked Vepr suddenly, Maxim sat up
quickly. This was the first question Vepr had ever asked him.
"I wanted to examine its construction."
"Planning to escape?"
Maxim cast a sidelong glance at Zef. "Of course not. I'm just curious."
"Why are you so interested in a military weapon?" He spoke as if the
red-bearded provocateur weren't present.
"Oh, I don't know. I'm not sure myself. Are there many like that one?"
"There are plenty of machines - and always plenty of fools, too,"
intruded Zef. "You can't imagine how many times the damn fools have tried.
They climb in, fiddle around a while, and finally give up. One damn fool,
something like you, blew himself up."
"Don't worry, I won't blow myself up," said Maxim coldly. "Those
machines aren't that complicated."
"But why are you so interested in them anyway?" asked Vepr. Lying on
his back, he smoked, holding the cigarette between his artificial fingers.
"Suppose you fix up one. Then what?"
"He'll break through across the bridge." Zef guffawed.
"And why not?" asked Maxim. He was completely baffled by this man: how
should he behave toward him? Maybe Zef wasn't a provocateur after all.
Massaraksh, why were they suddenly giving him a hard time?
"You'll never make it to the bridge," said Vepr. "They'll riddle you
like a piece of cheese. And if you do make it, you'll find the bridge drawn
up."
"And along the bottom of the river?"
"The river is radioactive." Zef spat. "If it were clean, yon wouldn't
need tanks to get across. Right now you could swim across anywhere: the
banks aren't guarded." He spat again. "If it were clean, it would be
guarded. Young man, forget your wild ideas. You're here to stay. Settle
down, and get the hang of things. When you do, you'll find enough to keep
you busy. If you don't listen to your elders, you won't even last until
tomorrow."
"It wouldn't be difficult to escape," said Maxim. "I could do it right
now."
"You're really something, aren't you?"
"Are you going to keep kidding around, or be serious about it?" Maxim
directed his remark to Vepr. Zef interrupted him again.
"I'll tell you what I'm going to do." Zef rose. "I'm going to meet