WRESTLING MATCH. Space history. V. Speys

And as if following these signs, the glance began to distinguish among the bizarre vegetation of a chain of black dots.

      – «True primitive fireflies?!

      Externally, the points looked like street lamps. The heart suddenly jumped in the chest with a bird that flew into a cage. The yellow glow, with the approaching darkness, intensified, acquiring bright colors, in which the «ragged» remnants of the forest disappeared, giving way to the pale outlines of the buildings. Among the scattered buildings with flat roofs, three were ingrown into the ground not far away. Aside from the town of buildings on the square, paved with hexagonal concrete slabs, three cigar-shaped hulks were visible.

      – «My God! This is the native cosmotron!» – Leonid rushed to the exit and soon he was standing on the concrete floor.

      Near the spacecraft was a service bus, people were swarming. Without hesitation, Krazimov ran to the open doors of the bus. My heart was frantically pounding in my chest for excitement and thirst to draw attention to myself as soon as possible, to get rid of an impending nightmare as soon as possible. At the foot of the car, he stopped breathing heavily. Leonid leaned on the wall of the bus, but the hand, not feeling the supporting surface, pulled the whole body behind him, and the astronaut crashed into the concrete wall. He suddenly realized that the world that remained outside of his feelings, which he sees, does not know about its existence. Contrary to common sense, he suddenly jumped to his feet, not turning on the sharp pain in his right knee, in a frenzied annoyance of anger began to put «blows» on the phantom bus, on people who, blithely speaking, filled the empty seats. He did not immediately realize that two of the laggards did not laugh. One of them with big gray expressive eyes and an energetic face was Sobinov, his assistant, the other chief designer of the automatic stations department.

      «You see, Kolya,» said Sobinov to his companion, «I cannot answer anything concretely, but the flash happened so unexpectedly.»

      – «But after all there is a clear space, not a single asteroid in a radius of Kilometers from five hundred!»

      – «I know, I know, and nevertheless the ship disappeared, it was incinerated, they didn’t even find fragments, as if Leonid Krazimov never existed.»

      Reading lips over the conversation of friends, Leonid shouted to the full power of his voice, knocking himself on the chest:

      – Yes, here he is! I!!! I! It’s me!!! Friends, where are you?!!!

      But Sobinov and his companion quietly sat down in a ghost bus and, «having showered» Leonid with exhaust gases, the smell of which he did not feel, drove off.

      Tears of resentment welled up in his eyes, a strangled breath squeezed.

      Exhausted, Leonid slowly sank into the warmth of summer heat, as he thought, was concrete. He sat for so long, not noticing the passage of time, not feeling being…

      And only in the ship, in the familiar, sensed environment, did the thoughts gradually become clear. He thought over his mysterious disappearance, over his present position and his future fate.

      Unnoticed, little by little, crept up a slight hunger and made itself felt. Merry gamma of colored light bulbs and hunger, and buzzing devices, led Leonid in relative peace. In a familiar setting, he began to recover…

      «It’s necessary to have a bite!» From this thought, somehow it became cozy at home and peace finally reigned in the shower. In the shower, under the water jets, the «brutal» appetite developed so that at the very last minute, calculated on shower, he caught himself.

      – «It would be necessary to save water, use every drop.» Then he remembered that the life support systems of the ship purify the water, forming a closed loop. He smiled to himself, wiping off a strong trained body. And, getting dressed, went down to the food compartment, and finally began to eat.

      Having satisfied hunger, sadness fell on him with a new force. Loneliness as your load. Sitting in the command compartment, in the commanding chair in front of the control panel is one among the ghostly being and there is no way to return friends, to return the lost familiar world. With his eyes full of desperate longing, Leonid examined the beautiful contours of the instruments, inscribed with jeweler precision in the semicircular spacecraft control panel. The measured blinking of control bulbs, creating a garland of colorful lights, like fireflies, winked cheerfully and cheerfully to each other, soothed and brought Leonid’s thoughts scattered about what was going on in relative order.

      Emotional stress of loneliness gradually passed. I remembered the heroes in such situations from the books they read and movies. And the first – Robinson Crusoe. But the situation in which the hero of the book found himself was much better. In any case, she gave a chance to return to the abandoned world. But what should he do? Leonid again with

      warmth in his eyes examined the cramped cabin. Consciousness suggested that, compared with Robinson Crusoe, he has everything necessary for existence. The fact that the hero Daniel Defoe was doing for the extraction of food, he, Leonid, got even with an excess. He has food, drink, a roof, clothes, and even books recorded on DVD discs. He does not have a world in which remained close, friends, work. In the new situation, Leonid decided to act taking into account all the realities and first of all to undertake the search for contact…

      Time ran in orderly rows of numbers. Mechanically, my hand reached for the transmitter. A click – and the distant noises of the ether filled the cabin space…

      With greediness, every rustle, crackle, rustle of ether absorbed in hearing. For a moment it seemed that someone had said a word, a whole phrase, but, listening attentively to the space, he understood that this was only a deception.

      To no avail cracked the air for two whole hours. It’s unbearable to listen to hopeless chatter in headphones. Tired, leaning back in his chair, turned off the radio. Eyes slowly closed. There were no thoughts. I wanted to sleep…

      Chapter three

      He dreamed of friends. Sobinov sat in a dressing-gown and slippers, sitting at the kitchen table and reading a newspaper. My wife was bustling at the stove. The table of contents, written in bold capital letters: «CATASTROPH».

      Vision strained, read a few lines: «The death of Leonid Krazimov drew a line under the dangerous expeditions into space. It’s time to put an end to the reckless victims in the age of robotics and automatic unmanned ships…»

      Oh, how it was missing now there. I wanted to be close to my colleagues, to finish what we started. He started, woke up. Found myself sleeping in the chair. From the dream I saw in my heart a little warmer.

      – «I wish I could visit Alexey now. What is he really doing there? Does he drink coffee with his wife?»…

      Of course, the distance separating the spaceport from the N-sky, where Sobinov lived, prevented the implementation of the plan. Leonid got up, stretched his stiff legs, then went down to the sleeping compartment. The snow-white bed inspired the warmth of the home and such a desired comfort, followed by peace of mind. Undressed, lay down in a soft bed. Soon he was asleep, indulging in a sweet rest…

      The sun’s rays fell on the devices, reflected from them and blinded the eyes. Squinting, he turned away from the sun toward the exit that led to the command bay.

      Impulsively jumped out of bed. A light breakfast, after the morning procedures, and a «cup» of coffee was jolted. Wearing a jumpsuit, walked up the steep stairs to the cabin. I sat down in the commander’s chair and thought deeply. It was necessary to weigh the situation again and again, to understand what had happened and to take some kind of decision. The instruments on the control panel were turned off, only one light, a control one, was flashing alone, signaling that the ship’s systems were not working. A ray of sunshine broke through the porthole. From the blinding sun, my eyes lost their sight for a moment. From a breast pocket he took out a napkin, rubbed his eyes. Fragrant gel wipes quickly