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

always thought it was birds."
"It's a strange cry."
"Strange - I don't know, but it's damned frightening. When those
screams start tearing through the forest at night, you get the shakes. How
many stories we've heard about those cries. In fact, one prisoner even
bragged that he understood their language. Translated it."
"What did they say?"
"Oh, rubbish! You call that a language?"
"Where's the prisoner now?"
"Disappeared," replied Zef. "He was in a construction unit and his team
got lost in the forest."
They turned left. Ahead, in the distance, they thought they saw a faint
spot of light. Zef turned off the flashlight and put it in his pocket. Now
he took the lead, and when he halted abruptly, without warning, Maxim almost
bumped into him.
"Massaraksh!" muttered Zef. A human skeleton lay crosswise on the floor
of the corridor. Zef removed the grenade thrower from his shoulder and
looked around. "This wasn't here before."
"You're right," said Maxim. "They just put it there."
Suddenly from far behind them, from the depths of the underground
complex, a chorus of guttural wails rang out. The wails, amplified by their
echoes, sounded like a thousand throats crying out. They wailed in unison,
as if chanting some strange four-syllable word. Maxim sensed that they were
sneering at the intruders, mocking and challenging them. Suddenly the chorus
ceased as abruptly as it had begun.
Zef sucked in his breath noisily and lowered the grenade thrower. Maxim
looked at the skeleton again.
"I guess they're trying to drop a gentle hint."
"Sure looks like it. Let's get the hell out of here."
They reached the gap in the ceiling quickly, climbed onto the mound of
earth, and saw Vepr's anxious face peering down at them. He was lying with
his chest over the edge of the hole, dangling a rope with a loop at the end.
"What happened?" he asked. "Was that you screaming?"
"Tell you in a minute," replied Zef. "Is the rope fastened?"
When they reached the surface, Zef rolled cigarettes for Vepr and
himself. He lit them and then sat in silence for some time, apparently
trying to make sense of his recent adventure.
"All right," he said finally. "Here's what it's all about. This is the
Fortress. Below are control panels, an electronic brain, and the like.
Everything's in bad shape, but energy is available, and if we're to use it
to our advantage, we must find knowledgeable people to help us. Next: from
all appearances, I'd say that the place is inhabited by dogs. And what dogs!
With enormous heads. How they howled! But when you start thinking about it,
you wonder if it was them, because, you see... how can I put it? Well, while
Mac and I were wandering through the place, someone placed a human skeleton
in the corridor. And that's the whole story."
Vepr glanced from Zef to Mac.
"Mutants?"
"Possibly," replied Zef. "I didn't see a damn thing, but Mac claims he
saw dogs - but not with his eyes. Massaraksh, how did you see them?"