"Arkadi and Boris Strugatski. Spontaneous Reflex (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

of the door. It was not self-evident how to open the door and Utm did not
immediately figure out how to accomplish that operation. He stretched out
his jagged left arm-manipulator, nimbly grabbed the door knob and turned it.
The door opened with a long low screech. This was amusing and Utm spent
several minutes opening and closing it, iterating between slow and fast,
listening and memorizing. Then he crossed over the high doorstep and found
himself in front of the stairs. The staircase was narrow, with stone steps,
and somewhat high. Utm immediately counted eighteen steps till the first
landing which was lighted. He unhurriedly proceeded upstairs. Another set of
stairs, wooden, with ten steps, was leading from the landing, and a wide
hall was opening up on the right. Hesitatingly Utm turned right. He did not
know why. The hallway was in no way more interesting than the stairs.
Perhaps Utm did not like the look of the wooden steps much.
Warmth was coming from the hallway which was brightly lit with infrared
light. The light was emitted by the ribbed cylinders hanging low above the
floor. Utm had never seen steam heaters and these ribbed cylinders captured
his attention. He stooped and grabbed one of them with both pincers. Short
sound of ripping metal could be heard, and a thick cloud of hot steam rose
up to the ceiling. Boiling water gushed at Utms feet. Utm lifted the
cylinder to his head, looked it over carefully, and investigated torn edges
of the pipe. Then the cylinder was tossed aside and Utms feet splashed in
the puddles. Utm reached the end of the corridor. A red sign lighted above
the low door. "Danger! Do not enter without an environment suit!" read Utm.
He knew the word "Danger", but he also knew that this word was always
applied to people. The word had no relevance for him. He stretched his hand
and pushed the door in.
There was a lot new and interesting here. He was standing at the
entrance to a vast room filled with metal, stone, and plastic objects. A
round concrete construction covered in steel or lead shielding that looked
like a flat stand stood in the middle of the room. Numerous cables emerging
from it ran along walls covered in marble boards with sparkling gadgets and
switches. Copper-wire fencing surrounded this concrete pedestal and shiny
jointed rods hung from the ceiling. The rods ended in the same forceps and
pincers like the ones Utm had. Silently stepping on the tile floor, Utm
approached the copper net and walked around it. Then he stopped and walked
around it again. There was no break in the net. Utm lifted one leg and
walked through the net without an effort. Torn pieces of copper web clang to
his shoulders. Not two steps before the concrete stand he stopped dead in
his tracks. His round globe-like head cautiously turned left and right,
acoustic receptors moved out and about, sonar antenna quivered. Lead
covering on the stand emitted infrared light noticeable even in this warm
area. Aside from that though it gave off some ultra-emission. Utm could see
pretty well in x- and gamma rays and it looked to him as if the lid was
transparent and opened up into an endless narrow well filled with sparkling
dust. An order surfaced from the depth of Utms memory: leave immediately.
Utm did not know who gave this order and when. Most likely he emerged into
this world with the ready knowledge of this, along with many other things.
But Utm did not obey the order. Curiosity was stronger. He leaned above the
stand, extended his pincers and lifted the lid with some effort.
The flood of gamma rays blinded him. The marble boards blinked with red