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

to the examination. He palpated the prisoner, looked at his teeth, punched
him in the abdomen twice; then he took a flat box from his pocket, plugged
it into a socket, and applied the box to various parts of the savage's body.
"Nothing special," he said. "Is he a mute, too?"
"No," replied the captain. "He can talk, but he speaks in some savage
language. He doesn't understand us. Here are his drawings."
The doctor studied them.
"Well, well, very amusing." He grabbed the corporal's pen and rapidly
sketched a cat as a child might, using stick lines and small circles. "What
do you say to that, friend?" he asked, handing the drawing to the lunatic.
Without a moment's hesitation, Mac Sim took the pen and began to draw.
Beside the doctor's cat he sketched a strange animal covered with a great
deal of hair and wearing a hostile expression. Although this animal was
unfamiliar to Guy, he realized it was not a child's drawing. It was a fine
drawing - in fact, remarkably good. Even a little frightening to look at.
The doctor reached for the pen, but the lunatic drew back his hand and
sketched still another animal - with enormous ears, wrinkled skin, and, in
place of a nose, something resembling a very long tail.
"Beautiful!" shouted the doctor, slapping his sides.
The lunatic didn't stop there. Now, instead of animals, he sketched
some sort of apparatus that resembled a large transparent land mine. Then he
very skillfully drew a little man sitting inside. He tapped the tiny figure
with his finger and then tapped himself on the chest, saying: "Mac Sim."
"He could have seen this thing by the river," said Zef softly as he
moved closer. "We burned a similar object last night. A real monster." He
shook his head.
The doctor appeared to notice Zef for the first time.
"Ah, my dear professor!" he shouted with exaggerated pleasure.
"Something stinks in this room. My dear colleague, be so kind as to deliver
your profound judgments from the other side of the room. I shall be greatly
indebted to you."
Varibobu snickered and the captain said sternly: "Zef, stand by the
door, and don't forget yourself."
"Well, that's better," said the doctor. "Tolot, what do you think we
should do with him?"
"That depends on your diagnosis. If he's a malingerer, I'll hand him
over to the state prosecutor's office. They'll look into it. If he's
insane..."
"Tolot, he's not a malingerer!" The doctor was adamant. "The office of
the state prosecutor is not the place for him. But I do know a place that
will be very interested in him. Where's the brigadier?"
"He's on patrol in the forest."
"Well, no matter. You're the duty officer today, aren't you? Send this
young stranger to this address." The doctor wrote something on the back of
the last sketch.
"What's that?" asked the captain.
"Oh, it's a place that will be very grateful to us for this lunatic. I
can promise you that."
The captain twisted the paper in his fingers hesitantly, then went to
the far corner of the room and beckoned to the doctor. They whispered for