"Arkadi and Boris Strugatski. Spontaneous Reflex (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

warning lights, as an alarm went off. For a brief moment he saw the bowels
of the concrete abyss through the transparent outlines of his arms, then
dropped the lid and exclaimed in a low rasping voice, "Danger! Opasnost'!
Gefar! Waysan! Abunai!"
A loud echo resonated throughout the room and died away. Utm turned his
upper body full hundred and eighty degrees and hurried towards the exit. The
shock caused by the radioactive particles in his control circuits was
directing him away from the concrete stand. Without a doubt, neither the
harshest radiation nor most powerful floods of particles could cause Utm any
harm; had he been in the active reactor zone itself he would not suffer any
severe consequences. But whoever had created Utm gave him a preference to
keep as far away from sources of strong radiation as possible. Utm came out
into the hallway, carefully and meticulously closed the door behind him,
stepped over the ribbed steam radiator and found himself once again on the
stair landing. There he immediately saw a person hurriedly coming down the
wooden steps.
This person was much shorter than Master. They wore loose-fitting
light-colored clothing. Their hair was unusually long and of golden color.
Utm had never seen such a human before. He sniffed the air and sensed the
familiar smell of white lilacs. Master smelled the same exact way, but
fainter, sometimes.
The landing was faintly lit while the stairs behind the girl were lit
brightly, so she did not see the bulky outline of Utms immense body right
away. Catching the sound of his steps she stopped and called crossly, "Who's
there? Is that you, Ivashev?"
"Hello, how are you?" Utm replied hoarsely.
The girl shrieked. Glimmering head with protruding glass eyes,
abnormally wide armored shoulders, thick jointed arms, were approaching her
from the dusk. Utm stepped onto the first wooden stair and the girl shrieked
again.
Never before had a Man failed to respond to Utms greeting. However,
this strange high-pitched sound, shrill and piercing, definitely
unintelligible, did not conform to any of the standard answers known to Utm.
Fascinated, he determinedly followed the retreating girl. Wooden steps
groaned and creaked beneath him.
"Go back," yelled the girl. Utm stopped and bowed his head a little,
listening, "Go back, you monster!"
Utm knew the "go back" command. Following the command he had to turn
his upper body around and make several steps in the opposite direction until
the "stop" command. However, generally orders came from Master, and besides,
Utm wanted to explore. He resumed his ascent until he found himself at the
entrance to a small brightly lit room.
"Go back! Back! Back!" yelled the girl.
Utm did not stop any longer, although he was walking slower than he
could have. The room captured his attention - two desks, chairs, a drawing
board, a bookcase filled with books and stuffed folders. While he was
opening drawers and folders and reading aloud notes clearly marked on the
sides of the drawings, the girl sneaked out into the adjoining room, hid
behind the couch and grabbed the phone. Utm saw this since he had an optical
sensor on the back of his head, but he was no longer interested in this