Sleepers Of Mars
- Автор: Уиндем Джон Паркс Лукас Бейнон Харрис
- Год: 1977
- Язык: английский
- Год: Coronet Books/Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
- ISBN: 0340173262
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Sleepers Of Mars». Краткое содержание книги:
Of course, we are now well used to the idea of Man On The Moon, we have become blasé as to the possibilities of inter-planetary travel. But imagine two expeditions to Mars, one British, the other Russian, both in the process of discovering a mechanical race, invented and produced by the Martians as they believe their specie to be dying.
The other four novellas in this collection give further evidence of John Wyndham’s genius at invention, characterisation and sense of movement.
He noticed that, if necessary, the wide jaws were capable of opening far back, like those of a serpent. It made him shudder to think of the size of the original invader of the Hurakan, though even this little specimen was a long way from being harmless. He was able, now, to see the way in which the mouths wrenched lumps of wood from the door, bolting them whole in the same way that Toby’s leg had been bolted. Repulsive as the creature was, it became less perturbingly uncanny than had been the sight of the objects drifting down its unseen throat.
David even felt slightly heartened—one could at least fight a visible enemy. He slopped his paint this way and that, to detect the presence of any other. Only one was within his range, and the section which was revealed showed it to be even smaller than the first; but despite its mere nine-inch diameter, the many mouths snapped no less ferociously. As he leaned yet farther out, a cascade of dirt rattled past his head.
‘Hi!’ called the sergeant’s voice, in some agitation. ‘There’s one of the darned things up here.’
David scrambled back to the roof, the paint can, which was his only weapon, still in his hand. The sergeant was staring and pointing towards a spot near the centre of the coping. Already, the supports had been laid bare, and a piece of wood was rising into the air. His pot was almost empty, but he flung the last few drops at the place. They were enough to reveal two or three pairs of snapping jaws. The creature was not only on the roof with them, but it was gnawing away at the supports.
He threw the useless can away, and looked around. Branches thrust themselves against the end wall of the hut. It would be a fair jump to the tree-trunk. He looked at the other doubtfully. The policeman grinned as he saw that look. ‘Used to do a bit of jumping in the old days, and I’m still good for that distance,’ he said. ‘ He led the way to the end, scrambling astride the gable. There was need of hurry, for the whole roof would collapse the moment the creature began seriously on the main tie-beam. He stood there, poised on the extreme gable-end, steadying himself with a hand on David’s shoulder. He launched, with a powerful leap, well into the branches.
‘Good. Now climb up a bit, and I’ll come over.’
He felt his right foot slip as he took off, and heard the sergeant’s startled cry. Desperately, he grappled at the branches, only to feel them snap beneath his weight. Something sluggishly yielding broke his fall. Like a flash, he hurled himself to one side and rolled. Even as he went, he heard the tearing sound of fragments of his coat ripping away. The sergeant’s voice called after him hoarsely. David sat up, and in that momentary rush of elation which follows a narrow escape, grinned up at him. ’
‘I fell on one of ’em,’ he announced. ‘What do you know about that?’
‘Fell on it?’
‘I did; and it’s a lucky thing for me that it hasn’t got teeth on top. It was right under the tree, and–-’
He stopped suddenly, as he noticed that the creature was eating into the tree-trunk. It was not big, he judged, for the’ floating chunks of wood were no larger than lumps of sugar; nevertheless, the tree was slowly but surely being undercut.
The other had started to descend, but he called to him to stop. With a stick dropped by one of the retreating bombers, he thrashed furiously at the invisible feeder. There was no apparent effect; the wood chips continued to flow neither slower nor faster than before. David calmed himself. At the present rate, it would be some time before the tree fell—that, was, if the food did not cause the animal to grow. With a swift inspiration, he thrust a broken branch into the undercut, so that it must be gnawed through before the trunk could be consumed further. Behind him, the roof of the hut collapsed with a startling crash.
‘Not much too soon,’ he muttered, as he watched the rising cloud of dust.
‘Look here,’ objected the sergeant, ‘I can’t stay up here forever.’
‘Why not? It’s the safest place.’
Another smashing thud caused David to jump around. Less than forty feet away, a tall tree had toppled and fallen. It became uncomfortably clear to both of them that this was not a safe place, after all. The sergeant’s perch was overtopped by trees on all sides, many of them already showing deep cuts. Any one of them falling in his direction would certainly sweep him down. He began to descend hastily.
‘Wait a minute. You can’t come down the trunk,’ David told him. Cautiously testing the way before him with his stick, he made for a spot beneath the lowest spreading bough. He thrust all around, and ascertained that the ground was indeed as empty as it looked.
‘All clear here; you can drop.’ The sergeant obediently landed beside him. ‘Now, we’ve got to get clear of this place at once. The best way will be—good God, what’s that?’
There was no need to ask. A crackle of snapping sticks was followed by a swashy thud almost beside them. One of the creatures, caught in the higher branches, had succeeded in eating away its own supports. They backed away in haste. The sergeant pulled out a handkerchief and mopped his damp brow.
‘Like a blinkin’ nightmare,’ he mumbled, looking nervously around and above. ‘That was a near thing. I don’t like this at all. The inspector said there was only one of the brutes.’
‘Did he? Well, he was wrong. So was Captain Forbes. Dirk was the only one of us who had any sense—he cleared off. And that’s just what we are going to do now—if we can.’
They began a slow journey. Every foot of the ground had to be tested with sticks, which they waved before them like the feelers of some giant insect. Frequently, they cast anxious glances upwards for fear of another falling creature, or of the trees themselves. An hour and a half of such progress found them more nervy and jumpy than ever. Each had discarded several sticks worn down by constant snapping, and so far, they had encountered no sign of any other survivors. The sergeant paused, and wiped his forehead again.
‘We must get clear of ’em soon,’ he said, without a great deal of conviction.
‘I think there are less of them now,’ said David, ‘but they’re bigger. They’ve been growing hard all the time we’ve been getting here. Come on.’
Five minutes later, there came a snap which removed a ten inch length of David’s stick. He recoiled. So large a bite proclaimed it as a monster which should be given a wide berth. They started beating around to one side without any success and then tried the other. The way ahead proved to be
completely blocked by a semi-circle of the snapping invisibles. The only thing left to do was to retrace their steps and detour around the spot.
They turned back, by common consent, and began to trace the path with wavering sticks. The sergeant was in the lead, and he knew that they had an almost straight track for some yards. He was the more surprised, therefore, when he encountered an obstacle straight ahead. He grunted and tried either side, in vain. The two looked at each other.
‘We found a way in, so there must be a way out,’ David said desperately.
If there was, they both failed to find it. The circle about them seemed complete.
‘Listen ! ’ said the sergeant.
For half an hour they had been penned in the diminishing circle, and lusty hails from both had failed to produce any result. Save for the invisible monsters, they might have been alone in the world. Faintly, out of the silence, came an unmistakable ‘Hullo ! ’ Both replied with full lung power.
‘Coming! ’ the voice sang back. ‘Stay where you are.’
Any other course being impossible, David replied with instructions to hurry; but it took another fifteen minutes before ‘ they saw the owner of the voice cautiously approaching. He was a small young man with large glasses, and he whistled cheerfully. One hand waved a long, metal rod before him. Beneath the other arm he clutched a bundle of thin sticks, each tipped with a white knob.