Alice: The Girl From Earth - Булычев Кир. Страница 60

“And why will they? Become acquainted, I mean?” I asked.

“Because I have conceived the perfect gift for your daughter’s birthday, Professor.” Gromozeka answered.

“And what is that?”

“We’ll take her with us to Coleida?”

“When? Now?”

“Of course, certainly, now.”

“But Alice has to go to school.”

“Tomorrow I’ll go myself to visit your school and have a word with the teacher. She will certainly let her go for several days.”

“Oh!” Alice said, “Thanks a lot! But just don’t walk into the school yourself.”

“Why ever not?”

“Because Elena, my teacher, she’s really nervous and afraid of spiders and mice and other critters.”

“And in what way am I like unto them?” Gromozeka thundered.

“You’re not.” Alice hurried to answer. “But she’d really be afraid of you a little. Not so much for herself but for me. She’s say that she was afraid to let me go… that is not so much with you as with what you are; just don’t get angry Gromozeka…”

“I understand it all.” My friend said sadly. “It’s perfectly obvious. You, dear child, have fallen into the hands of a cruel and terrible woman. You fear what she might threaten me, your friend, with evil…”

“No, you don’t quite understand…”

“I understand everything. Professor!”

“What?” I asked and tried to hold back the grin on my face.

“You must immediately remove your child from that school. They are torturing her. If you do not do it I shall go there myself tomorrow and save Alice myself.”

“Alice is perfectly capable of saving herself.” I said. “Don’t have any fears for her sake. Now, how many days do you propose to take her for?”

“A mere thirty or forty.” Gromozeka said.

“No. Don’t even think of it.”

“Then for twenty-seven days.”

“Why twenty-seven.”

“Because the two of us are bargaining and you have already gotten me to back down two days. Your move.”

The temporalists were laughing.

“I had no idea that space archaeologists were so….” Richard said.

“But I am not prepared to bargain with you on this.” I told Gromozeka. “You really must understand that earth children have to go to school.”

“To such a monster like the foul Elena, who tortures mice and spiders? Who would have attacked me, if not for Alice’s timely warning?”

“Yes to the monster, to the charming, pleasant and intelligent woman, my thick skinned egoist friend.”

“P-please do not argue.” Petrov said. “When does Alice’s term break start?”

“In five days.” Alice said.

“How long is it?”

“One week.”

“That’s just p-perfect. Send your daughter with us for the term break week. There is certainly no way we will be able to finish loading before Alice’s break starts.”

“Stop!” Gromozeka fumed. “I have yet to finish my bargain with the Professor. Let your daughter go for twenty-six days.”

“No.”

“For twenty-two.”

“Not on our life.”

“You are a hard man, Seleznev. Not even my little bouquet of flowers yesterday can move you. Eighteen days, and not a minute less.”

“Why for so long?”

“The flight there takes two day. Then two days return. And two weeks on the planet.”

“Okay.” I said. Four days travel time, five days on Coleida, and one day for a fudge factor. Ten days in all. I will go to the school myself and ask for Alice to be permitted to return from break three days late. And not another word on the matter.”

“Alas.” Gromozeka agreed. “But the ship might be delayed en route. What if it has to avoid a meteorite swarm?”

“I will not hold meteorite swarms, novas, or other natural disasters against you.”

“Alice,” Gromozeka turned toward my daughter. “You understand it all? You’ll get the instructions from me tomorrow. But now, my dear temporalists, I must tell you how lucky we were that this cruel Professor has agreed to send is marvelous daughter with us. Hear my recounting of the story of how Alice found the Three Captains and saved the Galaxy from the space pirates.”

And Gromozeka set about to detail for the temporalists our flight in the Pegasus in search of exotic and rare extraterrestrial animals, and how we found the Second Captain. His retelling was so far from the truth that I did not bother to interrupt and correct Gromozeka but just told Petrov and Richard:

“Scale it all back about ten times. And you, Alice, go to your desk and do your lessons, or else you’ll end up believing Gromozeka’s tales of your own feats of daring do.”

“I haven’t yet begun to do daring do, Papa.” Alice said, but she behaved herself. “Good night. I have my homework to do. I’ll see you in space.”

When Gromozeka finished his story of Alice’s Labors the temporalists began to discuss their own work on Coleida, what else they would need to take to Coleida, and did not depart until after midnight.

And when I was going to bed I asked Gromozeka:

“Tell me, you old scoundrel; why did you insist that Alice go along?”

“A mere trifle; I thought it would be good for the child…” Gromozeka said.

“I do not believe you. But as to what I can do…”

“I will look after her myself.” Gromozeka said, making himself comfortable and turning into a large shining sphere. “Not one little golden hair will be missing from her beautiful little head when she returns.”

And four days later the ships with the disassembled time machine aboard took off from Earth and headed toward Coleida. Alice went with Gromozeka on the first ship. As to what happened on that planet, I only learned two weeks later, when Alice got back. What happened is this…

5

The ships landed on Coleida early in the local morning. By the time the locks were open the guard on duty at the field camp’s com center had already managed to awaken all the archaeologists and they, pulling on their clothing on the run, hurried to where the ships had landed in a dusty field tracked over by the robots and excavatory machines.

“I’ll go out last.” Gromozeka said to the temporalists and Alice. “You are our guests and I a mere archaeologist. They already know we’re bringing the time machine and will be delighted to see you. Alice, dress more warmly; I promised our father that you would not catch a cold. On the other hand, a cold or sickness that needs microbes will not threaten you; there are no microbes on Coleida.”

“Why not?” Alice asked.

“Because on Coleida there is nothing at all that is alive. Not people, not animals, not planets, not flies, not microbes. Space Plague eliminates everything alive.”

Alice was the first to exit the ship.

There were some thirty-five archaeologists in the expedition. Not one of them was from Earth. There were Lineans, Fixxians, Ushans, and other scientists. Other than their profession, they had nothing else in common. Among the crowd that came to greet them were archaeologists without legs, some came on two legs, some on three, and some on seven, some on tentacles, some on wheels, and one archaeologist could boast one hundred forty-four legs. The smallest of the archaeologists was about the size of a cat, and the largest was my friend Gromozeka. The archaeologists displayed a varied assortment in the number of hands, eyes, and even heads as well.

And all of the heads were turned to the ship’s airlock, and when Alice stopped in the lock and waved to her new friends, they began to wave their arms and tentacles in answer and started to shout at her in dozens of different languages.

The crowd of archaeologists was even more demonstrative at the appearance of the temporalist researchers, but when Gromozeka appeared in the lock they went wild, clapping Gromozeka with the hands (and tentacles and feelers and wheels) and dragging everyone toward the camp of tents that sprouted like a multicolored soap bubble garden at one end of the field. Along the way one of the archaeologists, the very smallest and most fragile, was nearly trampled to death, but, was able to spy him out beneath the feet (and tentacles and feelers and wheels) of the others and dragged him, battered and nearly suffocated, back into the air.