Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Emergency
<...Researchers report inter-
ubiquitous plankton, spores unknown
my life in Space.Extended-
their clusters are found only
beyond the orbit of Mars. Origin
they still remain unclear...>
Viktor Borisovich did not like Titan.
The planet was spinning too fast and
gave a dark, restless atmosphere. But
Viktor Borisovich had his fill of admiring the ring
tsami of Saturn and the strange play of colors on
its surface. The planetary ship has unloaded -
food, liquefied deuterium, cyber
netical equipment for planetary scientists, -
took on board twenty-eight tons of erbium
and biologist Malyshev and immediately set off
on the return flight. As always, in the belt aste-
roids, the planetary craft lost speed and slope
got off course. I had to suffer. Wash
Everyone was interested, and most of all the biologist Malyshev.
The poor guy couldn't stand the overload. When
pulled out of the shock absorber, it was yellow, like
cheese. He felt himself, shook his head and silently
rushed to his cabin. He was in a hurry
look how his snail endured the overload
- fat blue slug in multi-leaf
shell caught in the oil ocean
near the Erbium Valley.
Now, like everything in the world, good and bad
Well, the flight was coming to an end. Less than
a day later the planetary craft arrived at the rocket launchercore in the Lomonosov crater, then a week of
Rantina - and Earth, six months of vacation, six months
blue sea, rustling pines, green meadows,
sunlit.
Viktor Borisovich smiled and turned over
on the other side and yawned sweetly. Before the watch
there were two hours left. Now I was on watch
Tummer, big-nosed and long as a stick. Victor
Borisovich imagined Tummer as he
sits, slouching, at the calculator and, with his head stuck out,
lusty, looking through the blue tape recording
control system. Then Tummer blurred-
xya, and the computer began to look like moss
boulder with rough sides. Under the boulder
there was no deep water, and, if you look closely,
in the moving seaweed there is a pike with a black
back, motionless and straight as a stick. And
suddenly a bumblebee buzzed near my ear. Viktor Bori-
The owl snored and woke up. There was
dark. He chewed his lips and froze. Somewhere
a bumblebee buzzed very close.
“It can’t be,” loudly and confidently
said Viktor Borisovich.
He got out of bed and turned on the lamp.
The bumblebee fell silent. Viktor Borisovich looked around and
I saw a black spot on the sheet. It was not
bumblebee It was a fly.
“My mother,” said Viktor Borisovich.
The fly sat motionless. She was completely
black, with black outstretched wings.
Viktor Borisovich took careful aim,
led a palm with clasped fingers towards the fly
and grabbed it. He brought his fist to his ear. In a fist
moved, rustled and suddenly began to buzz like this
I know that VictorBorisovich immediately remembered
Neil drawing lessons.
“There’s a fly in a planetary plane,” he said and po-
looked at his fist in amazement. “Wow!”
We need to show it to Tummer.
Using one hand, he pulled up his trousers,
jumped out into the corridor and went into the control room, going around
convex wall. There was rustling and tickling in the fist -
lo.
In the control room stood Tummer with a dark, skinny face.
com. They swayed on the TV projector screen
two narrow sickles - larger blue, white
smaller - Earth and Moon.
“Hello, Tum,” said Victor Bori.
Sovich
Tummer shook his head and looked at
him with sunken eyes.
“Well, guess what I have here,” he said.
Viktor Borisovich, carefully shaking his fists,
com.
“An airship,” answered Tummer.
“No, not an airship,” said Victor Bo-
risovich.- Fly. Fly, old owl!
Tummer said boredly:
- Ferrite storage works poorly -
but...
“I’ll change,” said Viktor Borisovich.
You understand, she woke me up. She's buzzing,
like a bumblebee in a clearing.
“She wouldn’t wake me up,” he said.
Tummer through clenched teeth.
“It’s rustling,” the navigator said tenderly, “
rustles, brute.
Tummer looked at him. Victor Boriso
Vich sat with his fist to his ear, and happily
smiled.
“Victor,” said Tummer, “well, what have you?”
by your face?
The captain of the planetary spacecraft Cons- entered the control room.
tantin Efremovich Stankevich and then board-
engineer Lidin.
“I told you, he’s not sleeping,” said Lee.
Dean, pointing a finger at the navigator.
- WITH“Something happened to him,” he said venomously.
Hall Tummer. - Look at his face.
Viktor Borisovich announced:
- I caught a fly.
- Well, yes? - Lidin was surprised.
“I’m going to bed, Konstantin Efremovich,”
said Tummer. “Victor, take over the watch.”
“Wait,” said Viktor Borisovich.
“Come on, show me,” Lidin demanded. He has
he looked as if he had never in his life
saw flies.
Viktor Borisovich opened his fist and
carefully inserted two fingers with his left
hands.
- Where is there a fly on the ship? - asked ka-
nutrition
“I don’t know,” answered the navigator. He saw
blew a fly, holding it by the legs with two fingers
tsami.- She buzzes just like a bumblebee, -
he said.
“Careful, Vitya,” he said with a breath.
Lidin, you will break her leg. Uh-oh, scoundrel-
ka... Buzzing!
- Still, where does the fly come from on the ship? -
asked the captain. “This, by the way, is yours.”
business, Viktor Borisovich.
The navigator performed the duties of a plumber
Nick.
“Exactly,” said Tummer.
killed flies on the ship, and ferrite storage
works disgustingly. Take your watch
do you hear?
“I hear you,” said the navigator. - I still need
ten minutes left. We need to show her
Malyshev. He also hadn't seen flies for a long time.
He moved towards the exit, holding in front of him
a fly like a plate of borscht.
“Flycatcher,” said Tummer contemptuously.
The captain laughed. The door opened and
Malyshev stepped into the control room. The navigator jumped into
side.
-“Careful,” he said angrily.
Malyshev apologized. He was disheveled
dark look and confused eyes.
“The thing is...” he began and stopped.
curled up, staring at the fly in the navigator’s fingers.
- Can? - he asked, holding out his hand.
“Fly,” Victor Bo said proudly.
risovich. Malyshev took the fly by the wing, and it
screamed across the room.
“She has eight legs,” said Malyshev me-
long.
“Ay-ay-ay,” said Tummer. “So what?”
will it happen now? Victor, take over watch.
“This is not a fly,” said Malyshev. His brother-
you rose almost to your hair and again
lowered their eyes. “I thought it was
mourner - anthrax morio. But it's not a fly.
- What is this? - the navigator inquired
somewhat annoyed.
“Listen,” said Malyshev. “What
Do you have exterminators? And then I need
microscope
“What’s the matter?” asked the navigator. Capi-
Thane frowned and approached them. Lidin too
came closer.
“Listen,” Malyshev repeated, “I
need a microscope. Let's go to my cabin. I
I'll show you something.
Tummer said after them:
- Please don't drop the fly.
In the corridor Lidin suddenly shouted: “Fly!”
They saw a fly crawling along the wall under the
we wash the ceiling. The fly was black, with black
spread wings.
There were three of them in the biologist's cabin. One
sat on a pillow, two crawled along the walls
large glass container with titanium
sky snail. Lidin, enteringlast, slammed
door, and the flies rose into the air, buzzing like
bumblebees.
“F-funny flies,” he said uncertainly.
Viktor Borisovich looked at Stankevi-
cha.
The captain stood motionless and watched his eyes.
Watch for flies. His face became red
coy.
“Crap,” he said.
“What happened?” said Lidin. Malyshev
turned his gloomy face towards him.
- I said: these are not flies. This is not earth
new flies, you understand?
“My mother,” said Victor Boriso,
HIV and wiped his right palm on his shirt.
“Oh, that’s it,” said Lidin. Black
a fly began to spin before his eyes, he
staggered back and hit the back of his head in the closed
door. “Gone!” he shouted, frantically waving away
smirking.
“We need an exterminator,” said the captain.
What do we have?
“There is a flyer,” said the navigator.
- More?
- All.
“Okay,” said the captain. “I did it myself.”
I'll do it. Go wash your hands, dry them
formaldehyde.
Malyshev was still examining the fly, holding
her right next to her nose. Viktor Borisovich saw
how much his fingers tremble.
“Give up this crap,” said Lee.
din. He was already standing in the corridor and every now and then
looked around.
“I need her,” Malyshev answered. -
Will you catch me the second one?
In the bathroom, Viktor Borisovich hastily
pulled off his shirt, threw it into the garbage chute and
rushed to the washbasin. He washed his hands and rubbed them
sponge and soap again. Hands became red
sore and swollen, and he kept rubbing and rubbing and again
lathered.The worst thing that can happen has happened.
leave on the ship. This happens very rarely
but it would be better if this never happened. U
planetship thick walls, and everything that goes through
Penetrating these walls is deadly. All
the same thing as a meteorite, hard radiation or
some eight-legged flies. And more dangerous
just flies. Three years ago Viktor Borisovich
participated in the rescue of the expedition to Kalli-
hundred. There were five people on the expedition - two
pilot and three scientists - and they brought it into
your ship the protoplasm of poisonous planets -
ki. The ship's corridors were covered with adhesive
transparent cobwebs, squelching and
it was slurping, and in the control room the captain was lying in a chair
Rudolf Ceres, white and motionless, and shaggy-
Little lilac spiders ran across his lips.
Viktor Borisovich wiped his swollen hands
formaldehyde and went out into the corridor. Along the ceiling
flies were crawling. There were a lot of them, about twenty of them.
Lidin was walking towards him. His face was distorted
Chenault.
-Where do they come from? - he asked hoarsely -
lo.- M-abomination.
From under his feet a mule flew up with a buzzing sound.
ha, and he stopped, raising it above his head
fists.
“Calm down,” said Viktor Borisovich.
Calm down, flight engineer. Where are you going?
- Wash.
- As an exterminator?
Lidin bared his teeth and silently walked into the van.
new. Viktor Borisovich ran into his cabin,
put on a fresh shirt and jacket and went
to the wheelhouse. At the door past his face with a thin
A flock of black midges flew howling.
In the wheelhouse on the tablein front of the computer
there was a glass jar, half full
filled with a cloudy liquid, from which
It stank even through the ground-in cork. In liquid
a fly floated around the bones. Malyshev apparently crushed-
she still had wings, and she couldn’t fly,
only from time to time it hummed with a thick ba-
catfish Stankevich, Tummer and Malyshev stood at
table and looked at the fly. Victor Borisovich
He came up and also began to look at the fly.
The cloudy liquid in the jar was disinfected
who . Lethal killed insects
almost instantly. He could have killed
bull But the eight-legged fly about this, apparently
I don’t think I knew or even guessed. She
floated in the air and from time to time viciously
buzzed.
“Five and a half minutes,” said Tum.
Mer. - What are you doing, my dear? It's time.
- Maybe there is some other
exterminator? - asked Malyshev.
Viktor Borisovich shook his head. He o-
The ceiling looked up. There were no flies in the control room yet. By-
Then he noticed that Tummer, grinning,
looks at his swollen hands. He put his hands
into his pockets and hissed in pain. And all in vain,
he thought, even lethal can’t take this rubbish:
. He looked at the fly in
jar. The fly swam and buzzed disgustingly.
Viktor Borisovich sighed, took his hands out of
pockets and said:
- Give up your watch, Tum.
He took over the watch and reported to the captain about
shift. Stankevichnodded absently.
- Where is Lidin? - he asked.
- He is washing.
“It’s being disinfected,” said Tummer.
“Listen to me,” said the captain. “Everyone.”
wear protective suits. Make it happen
vaccination against sand fever.Next.Letal
no good. But it is possible that on these flies
something else will work. How do you sex-
you mean, comrade Malyshev?
“What?” said Malyshev. He looked away from
contemplating a fly in a jar and hastily said:
- Yes, it's possible. It's possible.
- We have petronal, buxil, nitrosi-
liquel... liquefied gases...
“Drool,” Tummer said quietly.
Stankevich looked at him coldly.
-Keep your witticisms to yourself, Tum-
measures So. We will conduct experiments in a medical department.
sec. I can count on you, comrade
Malyshev?
“At your disposal,” he said quickly.
Malyshev.- But I need a microscope.
- Microscope in the medical compartment. you
You will stay in the control room, Viktor Borisovich. Special
the suit will be brought to you.
“I obey,” said Viktor Borisovich.
A loud, cheerful hum was heard. All
looked at the jar and immediately, as if
team, raised their eyes to the ceiling. Under the sweat
with a victorious howl rushed a large black
naya fly.
I brought a special suit to Viktor Borisovich
Tummer. He quickly opened the door slightly,
jumped over the coaming and slammed the door behind
yourself. For a second, a lot of people burst into the control room.
a loud moaning howl. Tummer threw it away
fishing spectrolite cap.
- INthere are flies in the corridor - you won’t be able to push through, -
he said. “It’s black.” Roll up your sleeve.
He took out a syringe and injected the navigator with
collar against sand fever - the only one
venous extraterrestrial infectious disease
tive which had an antidote. It was
clearly meaningless, because the only
the place where the dog pathogens were found
tea fever, there was Venus, but the captain did not
I didn’t want to miss the slightest chance.
- How are ours doing? - asked Victor Bori-
Sovich, lowering his sleeve.
“Kostya is angry as hell,” said Tummer.
Nothing takes these flies. And Malyshev in re-
bargaining. Just in seventh heaven. Cuts flies and
looks at it through a microscope. He says that in life
I never imagined anything like this.
He says that these flies have neither eyes nor mouths,
no esophagus or anything else. He says that
can't understand how they reproduce...
- And he doesn’t say where they came from?
- Speaks. He believes that these disputes are not
known form of life. He says they
for millions of years they rushed in Space, and in
The ship found favorable soil. He's go-
says that we are lucky. There are no such cases yet
it happened.
“Wandering life,” said the navigator and
began to fit into a special protective suit. - I
I heard about it. But somehow I don't think that
We're lucky. By the way, how could they get there?
to the ship?
- Do you remember, a week ago Lidin got out?
out. It seems it was in the asteroid belt-
Dov.
- Or maybe they are from Titan?
Tummer shookshoulders.
- Malyshev says that there is no
eight-legged flies. Does it really matter? Tell me
Thank you it's not wasps.
Tummer left, jumping again
Mings, and slammed the door behind him. Victor
Borisovich sat down at the console. In a special suit and
in the spectrolite cap he felt
safe and even began to do something
sing under your breath. Under the ceiling already wear-
dozens of flies were flying, some were spinning in front of
TV screen and crawled along recording tapes
control system. But their buzz was not there
audible: the special suit had good sound
isolation. Viktor Borisovich looked at the remote control
management. Sitting on the console at his elbow
fly. Viktor Borisovich took aim and firmly
slammed it with his silicete-gloved palm,
tke. The fly turned over and moved its legs
and froze. Viktor Borisovich, bending over,
looked at her curiously. Dead black
fly. Eight legs... Nasty, of course, but...
Why are they dangerous? Not a single insect is safe
clearly, infection and poison are dangerous, and infections can
and not be, and poison too. However, if presented
see that several of these space flies
hit the Earth...
The navigator turned around. A piece of paper lying
on the table, slid onto the floor and, spinning,
flew to the door. The door to the corridor was
open.
- Hey, who's there? - Victor Boriso shouted -
vic.- Door!
He waited a little, then stood up and
looked out into the corridor. There were crawling in the corridor and
flies were flying. There were so many of themthat the walls
seemed black, and hung from the ceiling like
would be a mourning fringe. Viktor Borisovich re-
shrugged his shoulders and closed the door. His look
fell on a piece of paper at the coaming. some
a vague suspicion, a shadow of a guess flashed
in his head. He stood for several seconds,
thinking.
“Nonsense,” he said out loud and returned to
remote control
It became noticeably darker in the control room. Dense
clouds of flies hovered under the ceiling, obscuring
blue lighting tubes. Victor Bori-
Sovich brought his watch to his eyes. From the beginning of the biological
An hour and a half passed after the gytical attack. He's
I looked at the dead fly on the remote control and felt...
I felt nauseous and closed my eyes. And why did I un-
pressed? - he thought. It's still disgusting, poisonous...
twisted or not - it doesn’t matter. Through the half-sleeve -
With his eyelids drooping, he saw that the tape was going unevenly -
but... He corrected her, then involuntarily looked for
the eyes of a crushed fly.
At first it seemed to him that she had disappeared.
But he saw her again. Crushed rubbish
moved. The navigator took a closer look and swallowed
saliva. He became all wet. The remains of the fly would-
are covered with tiny black midges.
Kara fussily crawled over the flattened
belly - tiny black midges with black
wings spread out. There were about three of them
tsat, and they swarmed, crawling to the side
on the smooth, light surface of the remote control.
They couldn't fly yet.
This lasted for about ten minutes, no less.
she. The blue ribbon crawled out of the computer and
lay down in lazy curlson the floor. Around
large black flies hovered around her. The navigator is blue
business, bending over, holding his breath, and looking
business without stopping like a dead fly. For an ex
a dead fly. You could see the black one moving -
the bare leg of a fly. If you look closely -
it is all covered with tiny pores, and from
each pore has a microscopic head sticking out
what a fly. They crawled straight out of the body. Here
Why do they multiply so quickly, I thought
Viktor Borisovich. They just got out each other
from friends. Each cell carries an germ
breathe. This fly simply cannot be killed. It can
a hundredfold repetition is born.
Midges crawled on the remote control, on the buttons and
verniers, on transparent plastic instrument-
ditch. There were a lot of midges, and some were already tortured
were about to take off. There was chalk left from a dead fly -
black powder, and the navigator brushed it off
remote control, as on Earth they sweep it off the table -
tank ash.
“The navigator is ventilating the wheelhouse,” was heard
Tummer's voice in the headphones.
Four men in shiny silicone entered the control room.
ket suits and silver helmets.
- Why did you open the door, Victor Boriso-
HIV? - asked the captain.
“Door?” Viktor Borisovich looked back at
door.- I didn’t open it.
“The door was open,” the captain said.
Viktor Borisovich shrugged his shoulders. He
I also saw a black midge crawling out of
dead fly.
“I didn’t open the door,” he repeated.
He looked back at the door. He saw
a piece of paper at the coaming, and again vague
guessflashed through his head.
Lidin said impatiently:
- Let's decide what to do next.
“The navigator is not aware of the matter,” said the captain.
nutritionist. - Comrade Malyshev, repeat your words -
water.
Malyshev coughed.
“Our equipment is not very important,” he said.
he. - The microtome, for example, is in complete disrepair -
research...
He fell silent, and one could hear Lidin
explains in a low voice to someone, probably
Tummer: <...take a bottle of alcohol, ho-
dit, water them and immediately set them on fire...>
“In a word, so,” said Malyshev. “Composition
they have a strange thing - oxygen, nitrogen and very
small amounts of calcium, hydrogen and carbon
gen. I conclude that this is not protein
life. And then, firstly, the danger of infection
is doubtful; secondly, this discovery is highly
first class. I emphasize this because
Comrade Lidin only thinks about how to destroy them
live. This is the wrong approach to the problem.
“There would be more spiders here,” said Lidin, “
ry seasoned crossers...
“It’s completely unclear,” continued Maly.
shev - what they eat. Completely unclear
mechanism of their reproduction. I believe that there is
reasons to believe...
“I still don’t understand,” said Tum.
Mer. - I killed them, crushed them with my feet, but show me
I want at least one dead fly.
“Don’t look,” said the navigator, “don’t even
try it.
- Why is this?
Viktor Borisovich saw that the door was open again
quietly opened. The piece of paper on the floor took off -
la, as if trying to jump over a
Mings, andshe sank helplessly to the floor again.
- I’ll tell you later. Then, when everything is over-
reads.
Viktor Borisovich went to the door and closed it.
her and returned to the table. The captain lightly clapped
slammed his palm on the table.
- Listen to me! - he said. - I decided
clear the ship of flies.
- How? - inquired Malyshev.
- We’ll put on hollow suits, raise-
meme in the ship pressure - can be used
stock up on liquid hydrogen reserves - and we’ll open
hatches...
- My mother! - muttered the navigator.
-...Let's let Space into the ship.Va-
vacuum and absolute zero. And the current of compressed water
kinda throw this crap away.
“An idea,” said Lidin. Tummer sat down in the chair.
Lay down and stretched out his legs.
- We still won’t get rid of it like that.
dispute,” he said.
- I think there is no dispute left on the ship, -
said Malyshev. In his voice one could hear the
pity. - They have all evolved.
“We’ll get rid of the flies,” said Lidin.
From these disgusting, damned, damn...
“Listen,” said Viktor Borisovich, “
I think I understand.
He walked up to the door, bent down and for some reason
touched with his fingers a piece of paper from the coming
sa.
- What did you understand? - asked Tummer.
“Okay,” said Stankevich. “Let’s go get it.”
vacuum suits. Lidin, help Malyshev
put on a spacesuit.
“The flies will freeze,” said Lidin, he-
giggling. He desperately wanted the flies to
frozen out.
Viktor Borisovich looked around. The walls were
black. Velvety flowers hung from the ceiling
festoons.The floor was covered with dry, moving
porridge. Dusk was deepening - heaps of flies were hanging around -
whether lighting tubes.
“Listen,” said Viktor Borisovich.
Do you know why the door opened?
- Which door, navigator? - impatiently
asked the captain.
-Which door? - asked Tummer.
- This one, the door to the corridor. And now it
no longer opens.
- Well?
“That’s the thing,” V said hastily.
ctor Borisovich. - The door opens outwards,
right? The pressure in the corridor is dropping, right? Excess
pressure in the control room pushes the door out. All
very simple. And now the excess pressure
no.
“I don’t understand anything,” said the captain.
“Flies,” said Viktor Borisovich.
“Well, flies,” said Tummer. “Well?”
- Flies eat air. That's where they get it from.
live weight. They eat air, oxygen and nitrogen.
The biologist made an incomprehensible exclamation, and then
pitan turned to the circulation devices
systems. For several minutes he peered at
devices, furiously brushing away flies. Everyone was silent.
Finally the captain straightened up.
- Flow meters show - slowly
he said, “that in the last two hours on
the ship consumed about a hundredweight of liquid
whom oxygen.
“Great,” said Malyshev.
“What a creature,” said Lidin. “That’s it.”
creatures.
“I told you so,” said Tummer. “This
just eight-legged flies.
“Logically speaking,” the biologist noted,
- an atmosphere of hydrogen must be for
them lethal.
- Well, this issimplifies,” said the captain.
Listen to me. Lidin, help comrade Mala-
Shevu put on a spacesuit. Tummer, re-cropped
install a circulation system throughout the ship.
rman, prepare the ship for vacuum processing
mind and ultra-low temperatures.Ready-
Please report back in ten minutes.
Viktor Borisovich headed towards the exit,
thinking about what will happen if even a few
only flies will fall on the Earth. The Earth is not cultivated
melt with vacuum and ultra-low temperatures -
mi.
He sighed, opened the door and dived in
rushing forward into the black furry hole, barely
illuminated with a reddish light.
They pulled the vacuum suits right over
special suits. Then they walked to the wheelhouse in long
a tunnel with black walls, a gloomy
by the same tunnel. The tunnel walls are slow
swayed as if they were breathing. They came to rub-
ku.Here, too, everything was unfamiliar and gloomy
but... The captain asked:
- Tummer, circulation?
- Off.
- Navigator, hatches?
- Open... Except for external ones.
- Lidin, the state of the vacuum suits?
- Checked, comrade captain.
“Let’s begin,” said the captain.
Viktor Borisovich bent down to the pressure gauge.
The pressure in the ship dropped by thirty mil-
meters, but Tummer turned off the circulation
online system just a few minutes ago.
The flies ate the air and multiplied with the
extraordinary speed. The captain opened the serve
hydrogen. The pressure gauge needle has stopped
then slowly crawled in the opposite directionWell. Atmosphere... One and a half... Two...
- Does anyone have flies in their spacesuit?
or in a special suit? - inquired the captain.
“Not yet,” said Lidin.
There was silence again. The headphones were
All you can hear is breathing. Someone sneezed, it seems -
Xia Tummer.
“Be healthy,” Maly said politely.
Shev.
Nobody answered. Five atmospheres. Black
the porridge on the walls began to swirl heavily. -
Lidin said maliciously. Six atmospheres.
“Attention,” said the captain.
Viktor Borisovich tensed and grabbed
Malyshev's belt. Malyshev grabbed Li-
Dina, Lidin - for the chair in which he was sitting
Tummer. The captain drove the fly cloud from the console
Chu and pressed the button. Four cargo hatches -
wide plastic curtains covering
cargo compartment - opened instantly and
at the same time.
Viktor Borisovich felt a soft push,
shook him from head to toe. Someone ah-
zero.Hydrogen-air mixture under pressure
I eat in six atmospheres rushed to the hatches and
into space. A black wheel swirled in the control room
blizzard And it became light. The cabin became the same
sterile clean cutting room. It just sparkled in
reflections of blue pipes, drizzle on the wall
oh yeah, the coaming still has a coating of gray dust-
whether.
“How good!” said an unfamiliar wheeze.
a loud voice in the headphones.
“Attention,” said the captain. “Second
stage!
Then there was the third stage, and the fourth, and five
ty.Five times the ship was filled with compressed water
before birth, and five times vortices of compressed gaspro-
they washed every corner, every crevice on the ship.
A layer of gray dust in front of the wheelhouse coaming is used
Afterwards, the drizzle on the walls disappeared. Then
The ship was filled with hydrogen for the sixth time.
The captain turned on the dust blower at full power.
catchers, and only after that into the ship
air was supplied again.
“That’s all,” said Stankevich. “For now.”
at least.
He was the first to pull the heavy helmet off his head.
spacesuit.
- Maybe we dreamed all this? -
Lidin said thoughtfully.
“A sweet dream,” said Tum-
measures
Viktor Borisovich helped Malyshev master
to be butted by the spacesuit. When he pulled off
biologist's right hand cranked sleeve, capi-
Tan suddenly said:
- What do you have, Comrade Malyshev?
In Malyshev’s fist there was a plastic
a box similar to a silverfish. The biologist hides
put his hand behind his back.
“Nothing special,” he said and immediately
frowned.
- Comrade Malyshev! - in an icy voice
said the captain.
“What, Comrade Stankevich?” responded the bi-
ologist
- Give me this thing here.
“My mother,” said Viktor Borisovich, “
you have flies there!
- So what? - said the biologist.
Lidin turned pale, then blushed.
“Destroy this filth immediately,”
he said through clenched teeth. “Into the reactor, no-”
long!
“Calm down, flight engineer,” said Victor.
Borisovich.
Malyshev shook off his empty-headed pa-
Tsir and put the box in his pocket. His eyebrows
rose to the hair and againmoved towards
eyes.
“I’m ashamed of you, comrades,” announced
he.
- He’s ashamed of us! - Lidin just got up -
l.s.
- Yes, it's a shame. I understand it was unexpected
given and... humanly scary...
“Can you imagine,” said Lidin, “
what will happen if at least one fly gets into
earth's atmosphere?
- Do you know how they reproduce? -
asked the navigator.
- I know. Saw. This is all nonsense. - Malyshev
stepped over the spacesuit and sat down in the chair.-
Listen to me. Life in space would sometimes be-
is hostile to earthly life, that’s true.
It's stupid to deny it. If the flies threatened
or at least human health, I would be the first
demanded to take the ship away from Ze-
mli and blow it up. But flies are not dangerous. Nebel-
this life cannot - cannot, do you understand?
- threaten protein life. It amazes me
your ignorance. And your, excuse me, not-
vomiting.
“The slightest carelessness of yours,” stubbornly
Lidin said, “and they will multiply on Earth.”
They will devour the entire atmosphere.
Malyshev snapped his fingers contemptuously.
“Here,” he said. “Even if they dis-
breed on the planet, and I take it in two days
breed twenty-two races of nitrogen-oxygen-
viruses that will destroy both flies and
ry, and two hundred and twenty generations of offspring.
This is the first thing. And secondly, we tried and
letal, and skidding, and petronal, and something else. But
I am sure that the most effective means of pro-
tive of our flies would be simple drool.
Tummerlaughed.
- The devil knows what you're saying, - agile -
Stankevich said.
- Well, not drool, of course, but plain water.
Ordinary aqua distillate. I'm sure of
this.
Malyshev circled the interplanetaries in triumph -
with a stern look. Everyone was silent.
- But at least you understand that
are we lucky? - he asked.
“No,” said Stankevich. “Not yet.”
- No? Okay,” said Malyshev. “First of all,”
“You are in our hands,” he patted himself on the
pocket, - the most unique specimens of non-white
kovy creatures. Still non-protein life
reproduced only artificially. Pony-
are you thinking? I'm very glad. Secondly, imagine
imagine a factory without machines and boilers. Gigantic
insectariums, in which with incredible speed -
that billions of ours multiply and develop
flies Raw materials - air. Hundreds of tons of first-class
of inorganic fiber per day. Buma-
ha, fabrics, coatings... And you say - in real life
ctor
The biologist fell silent, took out a plastic
box and brought it to his ear.
“They’re buzzing,” he said. “The most unique
creatures. The rarest... The rarest.
His eyes suddenly widened, his face
there was confusion.
“My snail,” he said and rushed out
cuttings
The interplanetaries looked at each other.
- Biology is the queen of sciences, flight engineer, -
Tummer said.
- I know a lot about non-protein life! -
Lidin said disgustedly.
The captain stood up.
- All's well that ends well, -
he said, without looking at Tummer. “If I
yetwill anyone ever talk
about the threat from space... Who is on watch?
Viktor Borisovich looked at his watch.
Having changed his watch, he went to see Malyshev.
The biologist sighed sadly over the bottom of the glass.
cylinder. During vacuum cleaning
internal pressure ruptured both the balloon and
Titanian snail, and dried Space
shreds of slug dried to the walls and
cabin ceiling.
“It was such a specimen,” plaintively
said Malyshev, “such a specimen!”
“But now you have flies,” said
navigator. - And on the next flight I will bring you
another slug. Let's go to the medical bay and
tell me what's wrong with the microtome. You see,
We haven't had to use it yet.
1960
Share your thoughts about the article