Classics of a fantasy. A. Belyaev
on a sky…
Hans suddenly reeled, hit the head against a wall and screamed. Or it
also, like a certain utopian hero, received a gift to work wonders?.
The sun as soccerball, described an arch in the sky and was behind a frame
windows.
Hans rubbed a nape, took seat in an easy chair and laughed.
“Well of course, it стратоплан the abrupt bend made. Yes, changing time
on the third speed, it is necessary to keep more strong”.
Hans thought.
Elections, strikes, street demonstrations. Hans kept up everywhere:
scattered illegal leaves from a roof, filled with them abonent books in
boxes of payphones, managed “Mohicans” near by to do, as well as
hundreds of his companions, antigovernmental inscriptions on walls of houses and on
the passing vans, collected the chronicle for underground newspapers, let
children’s spheres with leaflets, set up at night red banners on spikes
churches, sold theatrical programs, putting in them leaflets,
invented tens of ways of propaganda, ran away from prosecution, disappeared,
changed clothes; even it zagrimirovyvatsya and again threw out such pieces, from
which enemies turned green, workers laughed and political raged
caliphs…
Vinkler’s call. Organization of escape of Zander. A smart suit “under
Englishman”. Soft compartment. To the Swiss border – on a car. Boundary
strip. Night, storm… Searches of companions to which at Vinkler was
letter. Wandering… A crossing through the river. Alarm. Firefight…
Switzerland. Mountains in the neighborhood of the Alps. The small house – a chalet – among
unction, larches, Alpine cedars. Snow. Tasty mountain frosty
the air which is given to drink by a needles smell. Work in a workshop. Production of model
starprobe vehicle according to drawings. Study. War with integrals and differentials. In
leisure hours – skis, excursions on the mountains… Blotton’s arrival with big
news. Order of a big passenger starprobe vehicle. Blotton’s departure,
Zander and Vinkler in some unknown Stormer-city…
New duties are assigned to Hans: purchase and reception
high-quality staly Europe in the different cities and America.
Continuous trips. It is interesting. But… “purchasing agent” – such
work not in Hans’s taste. It sends desperate letters to Vinkler. At last
Vinkler “took pity” on him. Arrived to Europe personally to make
some purchases and to capture with itself Hans. And now they fly in
this mysterious Stormer-city. Also Blotton flies. He will make the first
rise in a stratosphere on the single rocket. He did not want this honor
to concede to nobody.
Hans looks out of the window. The sky at this height of gray and flaky color. Sun
it is dazzling is white.
And what becomes below? Concave dark blue board of the ocean. On it
it is dazzling a bright circle – reflection of a solar disk.
Magnificent, wonderful flight! Terrible jump! From west banks
Europe on the southwest, through the Atlantic Ocean, to South America.
Stratoplan crossed all its continent from edge to edge over a river basin
Amazons, passed through the Andes, made a wide semicircle over the coast
The Pacific Ocean and now goes to the same Andes from the southwest. Here they
are seen hardly noticeable zazubrinka on the horizon…
– Уф! – Hans zasvistat a march again.
– What did you rassvistetsya there? – Vinkler from the next cabin speaks.
– Very well we fly! – Hans answers, going to Vinkler.
– On the airplane so would not whistle! – Vinkler speaks. He sits at
little table also considers something in the notebook, puffing
unseparable tube.
– I only in water am not able to whistle, – Hans answered. – And in the airplane —
as much as necessary.
– The same effect that in water: stops the engine.
– It is right, – Hans agreed. – Here it is absolutely silent. As if you fly on
balloon. Even explosions are not heard.
– Quicker than a sound we fly, because and it is not heard. Four hundred. We slow down
the course also we decrease. Height is only fifteen kilometers.
– But here temperature has to be much lower, than on
the Earth’s surface, the speed of a sound decreases with decrease
temperatures…
Vinkler nodded in the affirmative.
– . reaching at zero three hundred thirty two meters per second.
Now probably the motor is switched already off.
– And what ceiling?
– Twenty – twenty two kilometers. It is the most favorable height if
not to chase record speed.
– Mosquito take-off. Two hundred – three hundred kilometers – all right! Five hundred
– six hundred is the real height! – the voice of the third was heard
passenger.
Smoking the Egyptian sigarette, Henry Blotton approached Vinkler’s chair.
The lord was dressed in warm light brown sports overalls though in
to such “prozodezhda” there was no need: cabin of a stratoplan
it was well heated by electricity and supplied with clean air. In it
it was warm, cozy, with comfort, as in a compartment of the pullman car.
– Aeroplanny champions of height, certainly, pottered about in dust on
to comparison with us. For all these “saunders-Valkyries”,
“pharman-sou-pergoliafov”, “yunkers” twelve – fifteen thousand meters
were already almost extreme height. Researchers of a stratosphere rose
higher. But they rose on balloons. And recently in Taymsa I
read…
Blotton rode out the favourite fad and began a never-ending conversation
about height records, about rivals who can challenge its monasteries, about
chances of a victory of the same champions, as it.
– You will go to an interplanetary travel and at once will beat all
the rivals, – Vinkler told. Blotton did