"072 (B059) - The Yellow Cloud (1939-02) - Evelyn Coulson" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Listen, down there," it said. " I haven't made a dive, I haven't made any sharp turns, and I haven't put a strain on myself in any way. So I can't be delirious and seeing things."
Monk leaned over and grabbed the microphone.
"What the blazes is wrong, Renny?" he asked.
"
This Monk?"
"
Yes; it's Monk."
Renny's voice said,
" All right, Monk; listen to me. I'm going to tell you about this cloud. I'll describe the cloud. It's about a quarter of a mile long, and probably half that wide. It's about two hundred feet deep, or maybe deeper in some places and less in others, because you know how clouds are shaped."
Renny's voice had somehow changed. It was full of ripping excitement. It had the frenzy of a buzz saw that had gone to work on a pine knot.
Monk said, "Say, what's the idea of tellin' me about a cloud."
"
Because," Renny's voice said, " this cloud is yellow."
"
Eh? It's—"
"
Yellow."
"
Say, big-fists," Monk said, "who you kidding?"
"
The cloud," Renny said, " is as yellow as a pond frog."
Monk muttered, "I don't think your joke is so funny."
"
The yellow cloud," Renny said, " is chasing me!"
THAT was about all of that. Or, at least, the end of it must have come while Monk and Ham and the army men were standing around with say-is-this-something-you're-supposed-to-laugh-at expressions on their faces.
It is not incredibly unusual for an eagle or a buzzard to chase a plane, and an owl might conceivably be up that high—twenty thousand feet—at this time of night; and the owl might have been in a disposition where it wanted to chase a plane. Another plane might conceivably have chased this plane. But a cloud? Oh, no! Out of the question. Somebody was crazy.
Renny's voice said,
" I'm gonna take a picture of the cloud."
They saw him take the picture. That is, the brief, terrifically strong photo-flash device with which the X-plane was equipped, made such a surge of light that it penetrated, even through the thick layer of clouds, sufficiently that those on the beach saw its momentary glow.
A minute passed.
Renny's voice was now more tense.
"
I'm going to drop the picture film by parachute!" it said.
Monk yelled, "Hey, Renny! What—"
The voice from the sky got wild.
"
The cloud is going to catch me!" Renny yelled.
That was all.
Chapter II. PROOF OF IMPOSSIBLE
IT must have been five minutes before those on the beach sand realized it was going to be all. At least, it took them that long to come to life. Then Monk reared up howling.
"Blazes!" he yelled. "Why didn't we think?"
Monk meant the plane in which they had come. He legged for the craft. The plane was larger than the X-ship, and a different type; but it could climb to twenty thousand feet.
Ham dived into the plane after Monk. Although they squabbled at all other times, they seemed to coordinate perfectly, once they had something urgent to do. Up went the plane, moaning hungrily for the stars.
An hour later, the plane bumped on the beach again, and Monk and Ham stepped out, trailed by their two strange pets, the pig and the chimp.
"Nothing."
The army men stared. "But—"
"I know," Monk said. "You ain't telling us how nuts it is. Cloud strata extends to thirteen thousand feet. Over that, it's as clear as crystal all the way to the moon. But no Renny, no plane."
"And no yellow cloud?" a captain asked.
Monk glared at him.
"Listen!" Monk snarled. "Renny isn't crazy, but just the same there ain't yellow clouds—and if they were yellow, they would chase planes."