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 absorbed into the eyelids pleasantly cool eyesight. As they got used to it, a panorama of the outskirts opened through the window. Approximately from the height of the twenty-story building where the cabin was located, how much the eye could reach, the vast sea of the forest «spilled». Cumulus hung over the expanse, drawn against the blue sky by a downy pile of white chimeras.
– «And yet I am on Earth!» – Replied with the sad warmth in the heart. Jumping to his feet, an instant and the HDA is already open, letting in the transition chamber. On the captain’s bridge, the astronauts, yielding to the old tradition, called the observation deck, looked through a vast area. A warm, gentle breeze filled with the tart flavors of an unfamiliar world caressed his cheeks. Breathing has become harder. The sugary-rich saturation of the smells of lush-flowering primeval forest and the high content of carbon dioxide made the atmosphere almost unsuitable for breathing. My head was spinning slightly, I had to go back inside the ship. Dressed in a light suit, entered the elevator. The spacesuit breathed easily, there was a surge of strength and vitality. Coming out of the transition chamber, vigorously ran down the ladder down to the sand. The spreading crown of a giant fern from the north completely covered
ship. The silvery design rushed upwards, like an alien plant, abandoned by Cosmos from the distant future. The landing stands are deeply entrenched in the ground, or rather in ghostly sand, on which was seen an endless variety of tracks. But only his gaze settled on these bizarre traces, as the crash of fallen and dry horsetail branches warned of imminent danger.
An old acquaintance, gleaming with a gray-green sheen of armored scales, raking in clawed five-fingered limbs, weighty clods of earth, like excavator buckets, was approaching. A few «eternal» moments and a long monster, snaking like a snake, saw the «victim» and froze, preparing for the attack. Mouth of explosive noise threw portions of compressed air picking up clouds of dust, making it tremble with horror. But, the lizard suddenly froze with a nightmare, approaching. Icy fear was crawling on my back, the astronaut looked around, there were no other animals around. The lizard raised its face and stared dully at the headset with huge balls of eyes. In the vertically set pupils flashed red reflections. By issuing an annoyed sap, the animal took a few «steps» back. Then, in a fierce leap, rushed at the man. His open mouth almost instantly froze over the headset glittering in the sun. The blood-red train of the forked tongue darted to the body with an arrow. The click of the closed fangs and the horror seized consciousness. The monster backed away, hissing furiously, clearly preparing for a new attack…
My heart pounded like a hammer on an anvil. The monster, not having achieved success in the attack, resumed the attack. The clanging of terrible fangs, closed somewhere inside Leonid, and the stinging mucus of saliva from thousands of tiny mouths of the mouth, caused an irresistible feeling of nausea. Leonid vomited. Dizzy. Trying not to look in the direction of the vile animal, he hurriedly ran to the ladder, and with pleasure feeling the firmness of the steps, ran up to the ship. The roar and the crackling of dry trunks under the power of heavy carcasses for a long time spoke in the dead of the forest, in the guttural cries of small animals…
With a stale breath from the experienced one, the astronaut was sitting in the cockpit in front of the control panel. Anger treacherously pushed to the button «START». To somehow calm down, and collect his thoughts, spoke to himself.
– This is some kind of nightmare! – then I thought, having calmed down a bit, I asked the same question repeated a thousand times in my mind:
– What is happening after all?! – having heard once again his own voice, he was moaned:
– It is clear how twice two, I am in another dimension! But, on the other hand, there is no sensation of touching visible objects, but at night?! And at night I see the world left. – he sadly remembered last night.
Friends who did not even know about his existence next to him…
– This is something different, some kind of two-faced world…
Chapter four
The sun hid behind the edge of the forest. Evening dawn faded. As darkness fell, the East brightened. The twilight yellowness spread there more and more, filling the sky and shadows below. Soon the yellow glow enveloped the whole expanse behind the ship. Flashing black drops of stars appeared one after another in the sky…
Leonid woke up from a heavy dream in a commanding chair. The dream that he had just seen made him relive the moments of the flight to Patroclus, so reminiscent of the hopelessness of his present position. It seemed to him that this was not going to happen to him. At the same time, he felt somewhere in the depths of the subconscious that these events will occur in the future, but not with him, but with another person, perhaps with his follower.
– «Am I really going crazy???! – Leonid collected his thoughts, – That was still not enough, I’m dreaming about the hell!!!», he cursed, but didn’t do any analysis of the situation in which he was now. After all, the «Two Faces World» is full of surprises. And how to know what he has to go through, maybe tomorrow or…
An astronaut stood at the foot of his ship, in a working lightweight space suit. Through the shroud of yellow glow, he peered into his close and so distant world. A bitter lump again came to his throat, squeezing his breath. Again, near the mirage of the ship, as last time, there was a service bus. Not controlling himself, he ran to the ghost bus, abruptly lifted and raised his foot on the step of the door. Like the first time, I did not feel resistance. In the hearts of people, I had fist on the wall of the car, there was no expected resistance. Slapping hard through the vision of the ghostly concrete, felt a blow to the hard surface of the earth. Five minutes passed. Gathering with his thoughts, he rose heavily and trudged along, limping over his injured leg, towards the ship. On the way, he took control of himself, the old Eastern wisdom suddenly came to mind: «If the mountain does not go to Mohammed – Mohammed goes to the mountain!» It gave strength. He was determined to go to the Center…
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