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

room. Its windows were decorated tastelessly with rectangular gratings of
thick iron rods. A high door upholstered in leather led to Hippo's
laboratory. For some reason two huge natives were always stationed by the
door. Never responding to greetings, they sat almost motionless and appeared
to be in a constant trance.
As always, Fishface went straight into the laboratory, leaving Maxim in
the reception room. Maxim, as usual, greeted the natives posted by the door
and, as usual, received no response. The door to the laboratory was slightly
ajar and he could hear Hippo's loud, irritated voice and the clicking of the
mentoscope. Maxim went to the window, gazed briefly at the wet landscape,
the wooded plain, and the superhighway, at the tall metal tower scarcely
visible in the fog, and quickly became bored. He decided to enter the
laboratory without waiting to be called.
It was filled, as usual, with the pleasant smell of ozone. Double
screens flickered. The bald, overworked assistant with an impossible name,
whom Maxim had nicknamed Floorlamp, pretended he was tuning the equipment as
he listened to the argument going on in the laboratory.
In Hippo's chair, behind Hippo's desk, sat a stranger with a square,
peeling face and swollen, bloodshot eyes. Hippo stood in front of him,
shrieking, legs thrust apart, hands against his sides, and leaning over
slightly. His neck veins bulged, his bald spot had turned a fiery
sunset-purple, and spray flew in all directions from his mouth.
Trying not to attract attention, Maxim passed to his work station
quietly and greeted the assistant in a low voice. Floorlamp, his nerves worn
to a frazzle, recoiled in terror and slipped on at hick cable. Maxim barely
managed to grab him by the shoulders. Floorlamp went limp. What a strange
man. He was deathly afraid of Maxim. Fishface appeared out of nowhere with a
small uncorked bottle that she stuck under Floorlamp's nose. Floorlamp
hiccupped and revived. Before he could slip into unconsciousness again,
Maxim leaned him against a steel cabinet and with-drew quickly.
After he sat down in the testing chair he noticed that the stranger had
stopped listening to Hippo and was observing him intently. Maxim smiled
warmly. The stranger tipped his head slightly. At that instant. Hippo banged
his fist on the table and grabbed the telephone. Taking advantage of the
pause, the stranger uttered a few words, but Maxim could distinguish only
"must" and "must not." Then the stranger picked up a sheet of thick bluish
paper with a bright green border and waved it in front of Hippo's face.
Annoyed, Hippo brushed it aside and immediately began to bark into the
phone. The words "must," "must not," and the puzzling "massaraksh" came from
his lips repeatedly, and Maxim even caught the word "window." It ended with
Hippo slamming down the receiver angrily, bellowing at the stranger, and
after raining curses on him, marching out and slamming the door.
Then the stranger rose from his seat, opened a long flat box ly-ing on
the window ledge, and took out a dark garment.
"Come here," he said to Maxim. "Put this on."
Maxim looked at Fishface.
"Go on!" said Fishface. "Put it on. Must."
Maxim realized that someone, somewhere, had made the decision he had
been awaiting and that he was in for a change. He flung off the ugly jump
suit and, with the stranger's help, put on the new garment. Maxim thought it