──── Fanta ─────
Arthur CLARK
TOMORROW WILL NOT COME
- This is terrible! - exclaimed Ver-
khovny Scientist. - Is nothing really possible?
do?
- Extremely difficult, Your Omniscience -
tion. Their planet is at a distance of five hundred light
years from us, and keep in touch
very difficult. However, we still built the bridge
new Unfortunately, this is not the only
problem. We are still not able to
contact these creatures. Their telepathy
tical abilities are expressed extremely poorly.
There was silence. Supreme Scientist
analyzed the situation and, as usual,
came to the only correct conclusion.
- Every intelligent race must have
at least a few telepathically gifted
individuals. We are obliged to convey a message
tion.
- Got it, Your Omniscience, it will be done
lano.
And through the vast abyss of space
powerful impulses emanating from
intelligence of the planet Thaar. They were looking for a person
an eternal being whose brain was capable of
perceive them. And by his permission they led
The qualities of Chance were found by William Cross.
This is not to say that they were lucky. Although
Unfortunately, there was no choice. Confluence
circumstances that opened William's brain to them,
was completely random and could hardly
repeat itself in the next million years.
There were three reasons for the miracle. It's difficult to indicate
shut upto the main one.
First of all, the location. Sometimes
a drop of water in the path of sunlight is focused
shoots him into an incinerating beam. So does Earth
Yes, only on an incomparably larger scale.
bang, played the role of a giant lens in the fo-
where Bill turned out to be. True, in fo-
Thousands more people were killed. But they wouldn't-
whether they were rocket engineers and didn’t even think about it
inseparably about the cosmos, which has become inseparable
lim from their existence.
And besides, they weren't like Bill,
drunk as hell, on the verge of insanity
rebellion in the desire to escape into the world of fantasy,
devoid of disappointment and sadness.
Of course he could understand the point
military: "Doctor Cross, you are paid to create-
firing missiles, - with an unpleasant pressure of production
carried by General Potter, - and not... uh... space-
ical ships. What do you do in your
free time is your own business, but try
shu do not load the computer center prog-
frames for your hobby!"
Big troubles, of course.
it couldn't be - Dr. Cross is too much for them
needed. But he himself was not sure that it was so
wants to stay. He wasn't into anything at all
I'm sure, besides, that Brenda ran away with
Johnny Gardner, putting an end to the ambiguity
lennoy situation.
Squeezing your chin with your hands and slightly stretching
swaying, Bill sat in a chair and, without opening his eyes,
rolling his eyes, he looked at the shiny glass with
pinkish liquid. In my head - not one
thoughts, all barriers have been removed...At this very moment concentrated
Thaara's intellect let out a silent scream
victory, and the wall in front of Bill melted into
swirling fog. It seemed to him that he was looking
deep into the tunnel leading to infinity.
By the way, that's how it was.
Bill contemplated the phenomenon not without interest.
sa. A certain novelty, of course,
there is, but where does he have to go with the previous hallucinations?
tions! And when the voice came into my head, Bill
I didn't pay attention to him for a long time. Even
being dead drunk, he retained his stamina
a fashionable prejudice against talking with oneself
mime ourselves.
“Bill,” the voice began. - Listen down -
mately. Our message is extremely important
but...
Bill questioned this on grounds
general principles: is it possible in this world to
Is there anything really important?
- We are talking to you from a distance
planets,” continued the friendly, but insistent
chirpy voice. - You are the only creature with
with whom we were able to establish contact, so
You must understand us.
Bill felt a little uneasy
yours, but as if from the outside: it was difficult
concentrate. Interesting, he thought,
is it serious when you hear voices? Not about
pay attention, Dr. Cross, let more
melt until you get tired of it.
“So be it,” Bill allowed. -Va-
bark.
On Thaar, five hundred light
years ago, they were perplexed. Something is obvious
not so, but they couldn't determine what
exactly.However, all that remained was to continue
press contact, hoping for the best.
- Our scientists have calculated that your
the luminary must explode. The explosion occurred
baby in three days - exactly seventy
four hours - and it’s impossible to stop it -
but... However, there is no need to worry - we are...
tov save you!
“Go on,” Bill asked. Gal-
He was beginning to like the lucination.
- We will create a bridge - a tunnel through
a space similar to the one you are in
look. Theoretical justification for it
too difficult for you.
- Just a minute! - Bill protested. - I
mathematician, and by no means a bad one, even when
sober And I read about it in science fiction
magazines. Do you mean something similar?
short circuit in superspace?
An old thing, still pre-Einstein!
This caused considerable surprise in Tha-
are:
- We did not believe that you had reached that level -
such peaks in their knowledge. But not now
time to discuss theory. This is a null transport
tation through superspace - in this
case through the thirty-seventh dimension.
- Will we get to your planet?
- Oh no, you couldn't live on it.
But there are many planes in the Universe
there are none like Earth, and we found a suitable one
for you. All you have to do is step into the tunnel,
taking the essentials and... build a new one
civilization. We will install thousands of tunnels
throughout the planet and you will be saved. You
should explain thisgovernment.
- They’ll listen to me right away,
- Bill said sarcastically. - Why would you sa-
Why don't you talk to the president?
- We managed to establish contact
only with you; the rest were closed
you are for us. We cannot determine the reason.
“I could explain it to you,” said
Bill, looking at the empty bottle in front of him.
She was clearly worth the money. What is it all-
what an amazing thing - the human brain!
As for the dialogue, there is nothing in it
original - just last week
he read a story about the end of the world, and all this
nonsense about tunnels and bridges... well, don't be surprised
Indeed, after five years of working with these
stupid rockets...
“What if the Sun explodes,” he asked
Bill, trying to catch the hallucination by surprise,
sucker, what will happen?
- Your planet will immediately evaporate.
Just like the rest of your planets
systems up to Jupiter.
Bill had to admit that he was
mano in a big way. He enjoyed playing his
his mind, and the more I thought about this possibility
opportunity, the more he liked her.
“My dear hallucination,” began
he is sad. - Believe me, you know that
would I say? There’s nothing better than this
think. No need to worry about nuclear
bombs and high prices... Oh, that would be
great! You can only dream about this! Spa
thank you for the nice information, and now
come home and don't forgetcatch-
take your bridge with you.
It's hard to describe what kind of reaction it caused
on Thaara such a statement. Brain Supreme
Scientist floating in nutrient solution
even slightly yellowed around the edges - which is not
has happened since the Hantilian invasion
nia. Fifteen psychologists received nerve-
no shock. The main computer in the Institute
then cosmophysicists began to divide everything by zero and
quickly burned out.
Meanwhile, on Earth, William Cross
developed my favorite topic.
- Look at me! - he knocked
varnish in the chest. - I've been working on it all my life.
spaceships, but they force me
build military missiles to kill
each other. The sun will do it better than us!
He fell silent, thinking about another hundred
ron this “pleasant” opportunity.
- There will be a surprise for Brenda! -
The doctor chuckled maliciously. - Kisses with
to his Johnny, and suddenly - FUCK!
Bill opened the second bottle of whiskey
and with a new perspective opening up to him
looked into the tunnel again. Now in it
the stars came out and he was truly great
molded Bill was proud of himself and his imagination.
marriage - not everyone is capable of such gal-
Lucination.
- Bill! - in the last desperate effort -
Thaar's mind pleaded. - But it’s not
Are people still like you?
Bill pondered this philosophical question
very carefully, however, as far as possible
there was a warm pink glow that seemed
suddenlythose around him began to emit
items.
- No, they are not like that - Dr. Cross
smiled condescendingly. - They are much
worse!
Thaar's mind let out a desperate cry and
went out of contact.
The first two days Bill suffered from
melancholy and didn’t remember anything. On the third day
some vague memories began to stir
in his head and he got worried, but
then Brenda returned, and he was no longer in the mood
memories.
Well, on the fourth day, of course, not
it was.
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If you liked it, call
KGB-Station and in the "TEXTS" section download-
those fiction in PK-zip.
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