Alice: The Girl From Earth - Булычев Кир - Страница 52

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“But that is what happened.” I said. “It was just the false Doctor.”

“Now such a shameful fact calls forth no doubts,” Verkhovotseff said, “but at the time I was completely taken aback. When the Pegasus departed I immediately sent to visit the researchers, and they confirmed: ‘Yes, it was you Doctor Verkhovtseff; you came here a month ago searching for plans to the Blue Gull. At that point i understood that the Second Captain was in grave danger. And, most likely, at the hands of pirates I immediately set off for Venus.”

“He arrived extremely agitated.” The First Captain said. “At first I had trouble understanding him. One Verkhovtseff, then a second… But when he explained I understood we should have to hurry. But where to? We suspected that the Pegasus was a pirate ship aand decided to follow after you. We went to Palaputra; there Krabakas of Barakass told us how you had bought a Blabberyap bird, as well as how someone had tried to kill all the Blabberyap birds on the planet. We also found the Audity who had sold you the bird, and I realized it was the same bird that had been with the Second Captain. Along the way we were almost thrown into jail because of the false Doctor’s sale of atmosphere destroying worms; we just barely convinced the Local police of the real doctor’s innocence. Ratty can expect the appropriate punishment for the attempt to kill all the Blabberyap birds and destroy the planet’s air. The Audities have never had to think of any such appropriate punishment before, but I am certain they will come up with something.”

“Oh! The cry came from the fat man.

“…asked all traffic bouys in the Galaxy and they advised us that the Pegasus was on course for the Medusa system. And on the robot planet we learned that you had spent time there and cured the robots by replacing their oil. And then we came here, almost too late.”

“And when did you realize that we weren’t pirates?” Alice asked.

“Back at Palaputra. And after that we encountered a ship filled with archaeologists. Gromozeka was aboard and he raised such a fuss defending the Professor that we had to believe him. Then we began to worry that you were in danger and wouldn’t be able to deal with the pirates.”

“We couldn’t.” Poloskov sighed. “Next time we’ll be wiser.”

“There will be no next time.” The First Captain said.

He walked over to the fat man who was sitting on the stone floor and said:

“Your time has run out, Veselchak U. You either open the cavern entrance, or our conversation comes to aan end. Let me count to ten: One, two, three…”

“I’ll tell you everything!” The fat man said quickly. “I’ve wanted to tell you everything from the first, no do sodroganiya boyalsya Krysa. I’m afraid of him even now. He’ll take revenge on me. His revenge is unavoidable. It’s best if you kill him. Please, kill him!”

“But he really is your friend.” Verkhovtseff said. “How could you possibly want the death of a friend with whom you have committed so many crimes for so many years?”

“He’s no friend of mine!” Then fat man screamed. “He’s my worst enemy! I’m an honest pirate, not a bandit or a traitor!”

“Stop wasting time.” The Second Captain said. “Open the cavern.”

Then fat man got to his feet. He was a sorry looking sight. His legs could hardly support him, he bent down, and his belly quivered like jello. He pressed to the wall and, going up on tiptoes, pressed a knob invisible to everyone else. A part of the wall moved aside and they could see a small control panel.

“Right away.” The fat man muttered. “Just a moment…it’s already done.”

He pressed a button with fat trembling fingers, and at last the stone plate rose a few inches from its spot and moved to one side.

The road to the surface was opened again.

“To your ships!” The First Captain said. “We’ll lift the Pegasus first, and after it’s flown to one side will raise the Blue Gull. I’d like to ask the crew of the Pegasus to take their places.”

It had started to rain. Enormous drops fell through the circle of light and loudly struck the stone floor.

The fat man pressed yet another button and a narrow stairway rose from the floor and extended to the edge of the white circle where it locked itself into place with metal claws.

“Quite satisfactory.” The Second Captain said. “Verkhovtseff, please accompany the professor in leading the prisoners up to the surface. The rest of us will wait here a while.”

Poloskov and Zeleny took their places aboard the Pegasus, retracted the stairs and closed the airlocks. Everyone else moved to one side and watched the Pegasus gently rise into the air, cut off the sky for several seconds, and then exit the cavern.

“Well then,” The First Captain said, “Are you certain that everyone is here? We’ve forgotten nobody?”

“That’s all.” I said.

Verkhovtseff led the two pirates up the stairs and I went over to the fat man.

“No more pirates?” The Captain asked Veselchak U. “There’s no one else on your ship?”

“I swear by all that is holy that no one else remains here! You can leave in good conscience.” Veselchak U said. “Completely clear. We can blow up this cavern and the damnable Ratty’s ship and nothing will remain of this pirate’s lair. I take it that is your intention?”

“It certainly is.” The Second Captain laughed. “Just one more look around my prison. To think I spent four years confined here…”

“Wait!” Alice suddenly shouted. “He’s still lying!”

“Who?” The First Captain asked.

“The Fat Man. He’s lying. When I was running after the blabberyap bird, I heard a groan.”

“That can’t be…” The Fat Man groaned and cut off.

“Where are the captives?” The Captain asked. From the way he asked it there was now no doubt the Fat Man would answer everything.

And the Fat Man immediately minced his way toward the tunnel. He was muttering.

“I quite forgot… That was all Ratty’s idea. I always told him…. I was always against it…”

“I’m sorry, Captain.” Alice said, hurrying after us. “I would have certainly remembered, but so many things were going on I forgot. But I would have remembered.”

“Don’t worry, kid.” The First Captain said and stroked the top of her head with his enormous hand. “You did great, and no one can blame you for anything. It’s these pirates that we’ll have a strong talking to.”

“Ah, here it is.” The fat man said. “Let me turn the light on now. Everything will be fine. How could I have forgotten. It’s all Ratty’s fault.

The light fluttered into existence and we looked down a small chamber that housed a pirate ship; the other end turned into a longer tunnel partitioned off not far from the entrance by a thick metal grating. The fat man ran to the grating and tried to push the key into the keyhole with unwilling fingers. The First Captain and seized the key from him and pushed the grating aside; the grating slid into a niche in the wall.

“I could have… I mean…” The fat man muttered, but no one was listening.

It wasn’t surprising the fat man didn’t want us to see that tunnel; both sides were lined with rooms stuffed with loot, precious gems, and other trophies.

“No,” I said, glancing into one of the rooms as we went, “We can’t just blow up this place; there must be enough wealth hidden here to build a hundred cities.”

“Stop a moment.” The First Captain said.

We all stopped, listening.

Far away, from somewhere below, we could make out an almost inaudible groan of pain.

We hurried in that direction. The door to one of the rooms was locked.

“The key!” The Captain ordered.

The fat man already had the key in his hand.

The room turned out to be a stairway landing; a narrow stairway led downward, the steps cut into the rock. At the end there was yet another grating. The Captain aimed the light of his flashcaster forward and we saw something sitting behind the grating on a pile of rags on the floor; chained to the wall. It was a Fyxxian, huge eyed and fragile.

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