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.
The sight I encountered shocked even me. For as far as I could see, the country was devastated. The vibration had withered grass, leaves, bushes and flowers alike. They drooped and sagged, where a few minutes ago they had proudly waved.
I turned my gaze towards Azco. The city was lifeless; men lay where they had fallen in the streets. The only moving thing was the smoke which still rose from untended fires. On the road in the foreground was a tangle of men and women; a minute ago they had been a crowd in full flight, but none of them would ever run again. In the harbour, vessels still with the wind in their sails sped unguided, to ram one another or to crash upon the stone quays. But—and most important to me— the guns had been silenced. The vibrator was safe.
I crossed back to the board and switched it off entirely. There was no longer need even of minumum power. Within miles of me was nothing living.
I went outside and looked up at the great vibrator. My right hand came up in a salute.
My memory of time is hazy, but I know that it was two or three days later that I saw something moving in the distance. I fetched field-glasses, and managed to make out a marching column of men advancing from the interior. They wore uniforms, but of no regiment which I knew; moreover, they were accompanied by unfamiliar machines.
Evidently the attack was beginning. I had expected it. I would let them get a little closer, and then blast them out of existence. I waited impatiently, filled, not with the desire to kill, but with the determination to assert the supremacy of my vibrator—the greatest power in the world, the triumph of man’s genius. ‘At ten miles,’ I said aloud, ‘you shall conquer them.’
But the marchers were still twelve miles away when my patience gave out. They seemed to be in no hurry to attack. Once more I laid my hand on the power switch. ‘Now show them who is master,’ I cried, as I pulled it over.
I took but one glance before the field-glasses dropped to the floor. The advance had not stopped. The men were plodding on as deliberately as before. A hurried glance at the dials assured me that the machine was working perfectly. What, then, could have happened?’
Suddenly, I had it. Those unfamiliar uniforms were insulating suits. One of the other pylon commanders had given away the secret. The vibrator was straight upon them. How long, I wondered, would the suits withstand its full force? I myself was only assailed by reflected vibrations, and safe enough. All I could do was to keep the machine at full on and trust to time.
Half an hour later they were still advancing. I began to lose hope. For all appearances, the vibrator might as well have been inactive. I smiled rather bitterly when I recalled that the longest time we had dared run even a small vibrator in our tests had been two minutes. We had not known what we had feared, but we had feared something. Then, suddenly, that something began to happen.
Five miles away, the ground split from a centre in radiating crevasses. A large circle crumbled away to dust before my eyes, leaving a vast, shallow bowl. But the bowl did not remain shallow; its bottom continued to crumble and to sink. I saw the men far beyond it halt in dismay and turn back, hurrying as best they could in their heavy clothing.
A violent shaking of the ground sent me to the floor. The pylon above rocked and groaned, but it did not fall. I crawled across the room and threw out the vibrator’s switch, but as I did it, I knew it was too late. Zacta had been right. My vibrator was bigger than I knew; it could not only take life, but by prolonged exposure it could disintegrate matter.
The shallow bowl had now become a stupendous shaft. The internal pressures were shifting. Another shock set the whole room shivering. I staggered back to the window. The ground had heaved and was cracked in all directions. What had I done? What had I started? A cataclysm which would shake the world : which might destroy all Atlantis!
A still greater shock made me clutch the window frame. The mighty cliffs to the north had split asunder; up the cleft the sea was roaring in one stupendous wave. From inland came a spurt of livid flame, searing the heavens. The internal fires were loosed….
David Hixton paused, and then he added:
‘The next thing I heard was old Fossdyke’s voice. It was still booming away about “this weapon which will give us the mastery of the world.” I could not stand it. I got up and ran from the room. I did not stop running until I had reached my workroom, for there was only one thought in my mind. I must smash the vibrator….
‘Kis-Tan had let it loose on Lemuria. Where is Lemuria? Xtan had let it loose on Atlantis. Where is Atlantis? No one should say that Hixton had loosed it again.
‘I went at it with a sledge-hammer, but Alan heard me and came in too soon. And now they’ve got it. In ten years, or less, every man will be reviling my name—every man, that is, who is still left alive.’
Diana put a hand over his.
‘My dear, they have not got it all. Only part of it. You smashed some important piece—I don’t know what piece, nor do they. They can’t make it work.’
David looked up at her, half-comprehending. ‘They can’t-?’
‘No, dear, it’s useless. None of your assistants knows enough to help them.’
David’s eyes brightened, his face twisted. He began to laugh, and the tears trickled down his cheeks. Diana stared while the laughter grew wilder and louder.’ Aghast, she tried to silence him, but the laughter and the sobbing both increased. Two attendants came hurrying across the lawn. One of them attempted to soothe David from his paroxysm. The other took her away.
‘You’ve let him excite himself too much,’ he said, accusingly.
‘But he isn’t mad,’ said Diana. ‘Not really mad.’
The attendant listened for a moment to the hysterical laughter behind him. He shook his head.
‘Well, that all depends on what you call madness,’ he said.