"Murray Leinster - The Wailing Asteroid" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

with now. Now Burke was going to triumph over an obsessive dream.
"I've got something to say, Sandy," said Burke painfully.
She did not turn her head. There was moonlight, rippling water, and the tranquil
noises of the night in springtime. A perfect setting for what Burke had in mind,
and what Sandy knew about in advance. She waited, her eyes turned away from him
so he wouldn't see that they were shining a little.
"I'm something of an idiot," said Burke, clumsily. "It's only fair to tell you
about it. I'm subject to a psychological gimmick that a girl I--Hm." He coughed.
"I think I ought to tell you about it."
"Why?" asked Sandy, still not looking in his direction.
"Because I want to be fair," said Burke. "I'm a sort of crackpot. You've noticed
it, of course."
Sandy considered.
"No-o-o-o," she said measuredly, "I think you're pretty normal, except--No. I
think you're all right."
"Unfortunately," he told her, "I'm not. Ever since I was a kid I've been
bothered by a delusion, if that's what it is. It doesn't make sense. It
couldn't. But it made me take up engineering, I think, and..."
His voice trailed away.
"And what?"
"Made an idiot out of me," said Burke. "I was always pretty crazy about you, and
it seems to me that I took you to a lot of dances and such in high school, but I
couldn't act romantic. I wanted to, but I couldn't. There was this crazy
delusion..."
"I wondered, a little," said Sandy, smiling.
"I wanted to be romantic about you," he told her urgently, "But this damned
obsession kept me from it."
"Are you offering to be a brother to me now?" asked Sandy.
"No!" said Burke explosively. "I'm fed up with myself. I want to be different.
Very different. With you!"
Sandy smiled again.
"Strangely enough, you interest me," she told him. "Do go on!"
But he was abruptly tongue-tied. He looked at her, struggling to speak. She
waited.
"I w-want to ask you to m-m-marry me," said Burke desperately. "But I have to
tell you about the other thing first. Maybe you won't want..."
Her eyes were definitely shining now. There was soft music and rippling water
and soft wind in the trees. It was definitely the time and place for romance.
But the music on the car radio cut off abruptly. A harsh voice interrupted:
"Special Bulletin! Special Bulletin! Messages of unknown origin are reaching
Earth from outer space! Special Bulletin! Messages from outer space!"
Burke reached over and turned up the sound. Perhaps he was the only man in the
world who would have spoiled such a moment to listen to a news broadcast, and
even he wouldn't have done it for a broadcast on any other subject. He turned
the sound high.
"This is a special broadcast from the Academy of Sciences in Washington, D. C."
boomed the speaker. "Some thirteen hours ago a satellite-tracking station in the
South Pacific reported picking up signals of unknown origin and great strength,
using the microwave frequencies also used by artificial satellites now in orbit
around Earth. The report was verified shortly afterward from India, then Near