"Aleksandr Abramov, Sergei Abramov. Horsemen from Nowhere ("ВСАДНИКИ НИОТКУДА", англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

concerned me except the thought of accounting in some way for that half hour
of nightmare. For the second time, the third time and the tenth time I
dropped my head to my hands and asked aloud:
"What actually did take place after the accident?"



Chapter IV. BEING OR SUBSTANCE?




The answer was:
"The most important thing is that you are alive, Anokhin. Really, I
feared for the worst."
I raised my head-in front of me stood Zernov and Tolya. Zernov did the
questioning, while Tolya stamped his skis and knocked the snow about with
his sticks. Stout and shaggy with a soft down of hair on his face instead of
our unshaven bristles, he seemed to have lost his sceptical mockery and
looked with boyish eyes all excited and happy.
"Where did you people come from?" I asked.
I was so tired and worn out that I didn't even have strength enough to
smile.
"Oh, right nearby," Tolya chirped, "a couple of kilometres at the most.
We've got a tent there, too."
"Wait a minute, Dyachuk," Zernov put in, "there's time for that. How do
you feel, Anokhin? How did you get out? How long ago?"
"So many questions," I said. My tongue was as unruly as that of a
drunkard. "Let's start in some order, from the end, say. How long ago did I
get out? I don't know. How? Don't know again. How do I feel? More or less
normal, as far as I can make out. No fractures, no bumps." "Your morale?"
Finally I smiled, but it came out rather grim and insincere because
Zernov immediately asked again:
"Do you really think that we simply left you in the lurch?"
"No, not for a minute," I said, "but a series of bizarre events took
place that I can't account for."
"That I see," Zernov said looking over our ill-fated vehicle. "A tough
machine it turned out to be. Just bent in a few spots. Who was it that
pulled you out?"
I shrugged.
"There are no volcanoes here. No pressure from below to eject you. So
somebody must have done the job."
"I don't know what happened," I said. "I just found myself on the
plateau here."
"Boris Arkadievich!" Tolya cried. "There's only one machine. The other
one must have simply left. That's what I said, a Sno-Cat or a tractor. They
did it with steel cables, that's all."
"Pulled it out and left," said Zernov doubtfully. "And left Anokhin
behind, without giving him any aid. Very strange, very strange indeed."
"Perhaps they figured he was out for good. That he was dead. But maybe