The Snare 2
I listened to the harsh, erratic sound and my voice was weak by
comparison: "Calling Lunar City."
"Static!" Kane echoed my thoughts. His frown made deep clefts between
his eyebrows. "There's no static between inter-lunar radio!"
Verana's voice was small and frightened. "That sounds like the static
we hear over the bigger radios when we broadcast to Earth."
"It does," Marie agreed.
"But we wouldn't have that kind of static over _our_ radio, unless--"
Verana's eyes widened until the pupils were surrounded by circles of
white--"unless we were in outer space!"
We stared at the metal door that had imprisoned us, afraid even to
speak of our fantastic suspicion.
I deactivated my radio.
Marie screamed as an inner door opened to disclose a long, narrow
corridor beyond.
Simultaneous with the opening of the second door, I felt air press
against my spacesuit. Before, our suits had been puffed outward by the
pressure of air inside. Now our spacesuits were slack and dangling on
our bodies.
We looked at each other and then at the inviting corridor beyond the
open door.
We went single file, first Kane, then his wife Marie. Verana followed
next and I was the last.
We walked slowly, examining the strange construction. The walls were
featureless but still seemed alien. At various places on the walls were
the outlines of doors without handles or locks.
Kane pressed his shoulder against a door and shoved. The door was
unyielding.
I manipulated the air-vent controls of my spacesuit, allowed a small
amount of the corridor's air into my helmet and inhaled cautiously.
It smelled all right. I waited and nothing happened. Gradually, I
increased the intake, turned off the oxygenating machines and removed
my helmet.
"Shut off your oxy," I suggested. "We might as well breathe the air in
this place and save our supply. We may need the oxygen in our suits
later."
They saw that I had removed my helmet and was still alive and one by
one removed their own helmets.
* * * * *
At the end of the corridor, Kane stopped before a blank wall. The sweat
on his face glistened dully; his chest rose and fell rapidly. Kane was
a pilot and one of the prerequisites for the job of guiding tons of
metal between Earth and the Moon was a good set of nerves. Kane excited
easily, his temper was fiery, but his nerves were like steel.
"The end of the line," he grunted.
As though to disprove the statement, a door on his right side opened
soundlessly.
He went through the doorway as if shoved violently by an invisible hand.
The door closed behind him.
Marie threw herself at the door and beat at the metal. "Harry!"
Verana rushed to her side. Another door on the opposite side of the
corridor opened silently. The door was behind them; they didn't notice.
Before I could warn them, Marie floated across the corridor, through
the doorway.
Verana and I stared at the darkness beyond the opening, our muscles
frozen by shock.
The door closed behind Marie's screaming, struggling form.
Verana's face was white with fear. Apprehensively, she glanced at the
other doors that lined the hall.
I put my arms around her, held her close.
"Antigravity machines, force rays," I suggested worriedly.
For several minutes, we remained motionless and silent. I recalled the
preceding events of the day, searched for a sense of normality in them.
The Kanes, Miller, Verana and I lived in Lunar City with hundreds of
other people. Mankind had inhabited the Moon for over a year. Means
of recreation were scarce. Many people explored the place to amuse
themselves. After supper, we had decided to take a walk. As simple as
that: a walk on the Moon.
We had expected only the familiar craters, chasms and weird rock
formations. A twist of fate and here we were: imprisoned in an alien
ship.
My legs quivered with fatigue, my heart throbbed heavily, Verana's
perfume dizzied me. No, it wasn't a dream. Despite our incredible
situation, there was no sensation of unreality.
* * * * *
I took Verana's hand and led her down the long corridor, retracing our
steps.
We had walked not more than two yards when the rest of the doors
opened soundlessly.
Verana's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a gasp.
Six doors were now open. The only two that remained closed were the
ones that the Kanes had unwillingly entered.
This time, no invisible hand thrust us into any of the rooms.
I entered the nearest one. Verana followed hesitantly.
The walls of the large room were lined with shelves containing
thousands of variously colored boxes and bottles. A table and four
chairs were located in the center of the green, plasticlike floor. Each
chair had no back, only a curving platform with a single supporting
column.
"Ed!" I joined Verana on the other side of the room. She pointed a
trembling finger at some crude drawings. "The things in this room are
food!"
The drawings were so simple that anyone could have understood them.
The first drawing portrayed a naked man and woman removing boxes and
bottles from the shelves. The second picture showed the couple opening
the containers. The third showed the man eating from one of the boxes
and the woman drinking from a bottle.
"Let's see how it tastes," I said.
I selected an orange-colored box. The lid dissolved at the touch of my
fingers.
The only contents were small cubes of a soft orange substance.
I tasted a small piece.
"Chocolate! Just like chocolate!"
Verana chose a nearby bottle and drank some of the bluish liquid.
"Milk!" she exclaimed.
"Perhaps we'd better look at the other rooms," I told her.
* * * * *
The next room we examined was obviously for recreation. Containers were
filled with dozens of strange games and books of instructions in the
form of simple drawings. The games were foreign, but designed in such a
fashion that they would be interesting to Earthmen.
Two of the rooms were sleeping quarters. The floors were covered with a
spongy substance and the lights were dim and soothing.
Another room contained a small bathing pool, running water,
waste-disposal units and yellow cakes of soap.
The last room was an observatory. The ceiling and an entire wall were
transparent. Outside, the stars shone clearly for a few seconds, then
disappeared for an equal time, only to reappear in a different position.
"Hyper-space drive," Verana whispered softly. She was fascinated by
the movement of the stars. For years, our scientists had sought a
hyperspatial drive to conquer the stars.
We selected a comfortable chair facing the transparent wall, lit
cigarettes and waited.
A few minutes later, Marie entered the room.
I noticed with some surprise that her face was calm. If she was
excited, her actions didn't betray it.
She sat next to Verana.
"What happened?" my wife asked.
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기