an arrow to the ground. High in the sky, in the instant silence, a bouquet of three flowers bloomed with domes of parachutes-daisies. "The bouquet «smoothly, swaying, froze in the sky, but, looking closely, one could guess that the bouquet is moving down to the ground. The women huddled together in the middle of the field, gesturing vigorously, exchanging impressions. A black dot is visible under the canopies of the parachutes. Gradually, it turned into a charred ball. The ball sank onto the field for a long time. When the ground was about a meter away, the rocket landing engines worked, cushioning the impact on the ground. Workers rushed to the ball at a run, even though it was a good kilometer before it. The dust was still falling when the first of them approached ten steps, stopped in indecision. She began to watch, waiting for the companions. Elena woke up from a sharp pain, from the seat belts cutting into her shoulders. From the overloads he had experienced, his head ached, pounded in his temples, and felt sick. It was hot in the stuffy atmosphere of the capsule. For a minute she sat in an armchair, listening, then flipped the toggle switch on the remote control, finding the right one in orderly rows above her head. Slowly, as the shutters of the portholes opened, the cockpit was filled with daylight. The astronaut clung to one of the three, which was opposite the chair almost to the very face, and a smile sparkled on his tired face. With quick and precise movements, she began to perform the necessary actions that she had to do hundreds of times on the cosmodrome simulators before embarking on this first flight. Soon the exit hatch lid was thrown back, and the beautiful face of an astronaut with curls of brown, thick, cropped hair was revealed to the workers standing below.
– Kra-as-avitsa! the first said in a singsong voice. The women came closer, sighing.
– And how did you come to us? – asked the second with a wide tanned face and whitish eyebrows.
– Well, hello, ladies! – Elena said, getting out, already completely out of the cab. Her white spacesuit gleamed dazzlingly in the sun. Barely jumping to the ground, a girl in a blue dress pushed over to her and shyly, hiding her eyes, held out a bunch of daisies. Her tanned little hand held these first flowers of her native Earth in her thin fingers. Tears came to the eyes of the astronaut. For some reason, everyone burst into tears, hiding their eyes in the tips of their handkerchiefs. The girl, laughing, handed over the flowers, started to run, towards a whole band of children, old people, residents who appeared from the direction of the village. The helicopter, throwing up clouds of dust, landed next to the capsule. A military man in a colonel’s flight uniform stepped out of it and quickly approached the astronaut. A country jeep was in a hurry to see the colonel. A man in boots and a cap jumped out of the jeep on the move and blocked the military path. In the chatter of the helicopter’s engines, it was impossible to make out what they were talking about. But, judging by the decisive gestures that chopped the air with their palms, one thing was clear, the men did not agree. the colonel, abandoning the speaker, rushed to the cosmonaut:
– Well, hello, daughter! – and grabbed the woman reddened with awkwardness into a bear hug. Then he took her to the helicopter. The machine, sweeping away the loose layer of soil from the tender green sprouts, rushed into the heights, dragging the attached ball with it. In the helicopter, the doctor examined her. I felt my pulse, measured pressure and temperature. These preliminary signs of attention of medicine, helped to form a picture of the state of health of the astronaut. Every minute the doctor’s eyes met the piercing gaze of the colonel’s gray eyes, which made even him, the best doctor of the cosmonaut corps, uncomfortable. But the astronaut’s health was all right. No deviations were observed at this stage of the «helicopter» inspection.
«Forgive us for such attention,» the colonel used to say, almost affectionately and somehow awkwardly. «After all, you just disappeared from the radar. We found the emergency capsule only today at eleven o’clock.
«I don’t understand something,» Elena began to speak loudly, trying to out-shout the chirping roar of the helicopter motors. – After all, communication with the ship ended instantly and
he began to accelerate into open space. I couldn’t even hold on to it
sustainer engines in braking mode.
«No, you disappeared, somehow suddenly,» the colonel insisted. – I, as a leader
flight, followed every maneuver. It happened when you requested
permission to maneuver. We have everything recorded. And suddenly she disappeared. And so
you appear seven days later in an emergency rescue capsule, – the colonel looked expectantly at Elena.
– How are seven days?! I immediately went to the rescue compartment and started. truth
everything happened so quickly that I lost consciousness from overloads.
– Yes, the capsule is designed for overloading the male body. More precisely, more
trained. This is your first independent.
Both were worried. Inaccuracy in seven days, and even in Cosmonautics, it looks like the explosion of an atomic bomb accidentally dropped by a US Air Force pilot flying over Alaska. But for an anomalous phenomenon for sure. This seems to have to be sorted out. In the meantime, the cosmonaut is waiting for rest, close supervision of doctors and an analysis of what happened. So thought the head of the flight, Colonel Smirnov. But one thing he was calm about was that the first-class pilot-cosmonaut who was entrusted to him was alive and well. This is the main thing. And the rest is a matter of technology. Its flight part is in order, but the engineers will have to work hard. Finding the cause of the accident and pushing it onto the pilot is not a success, there are clear signs of their inattention. Somewhere in the depths of my soul I thought maliciously, already a general, former Colonel C, but still remained a Colonel.
Chapter 6
– I’m asking you, Colonel! – shouted at the frozen in the middle of the Persian carpet, the general, standing at the massive polished writing table. Glass from the portrait of Felix Edmundovich glittered menacingly behind the general’s back. – Come on! The colonel, striking a step, sinking into the carpet, approached. Dzerzhinsky saw off the guest with a portrait look.
– I ask you how it could have happened that Gracis spent seven days in orbit
unnoticed?! – bulging, pitch-black eyes on the roll, with a look of impatient objections, devoured Smirnov, general.
– We have everything written down. She disappeared from radar and was not even detected.
intelligence service during…
– Why do they report this to me from third parties?! – the colonel winced:
– «As in prison, here are informants. They make a career on the bones,» Colonel Smirnov thought unflatteringly. The colonel’s eyes gazed sadly at the slender cypress tree outside the office window…
– «The general’s shoulder straps were crying. I will retire, to hell. Let everything burn, with a blue flame. The colonel’s pension will be enough», – the saving thought tenderly touched his temple.
– Go! – unexpectedly barked the general, – Major! – the last spoken word did not immediately reach the colonel’s consciousness, but when his hand touched the cold metal of the door handle:
– «How? Major?!» – for a moment Smirnov paused, then pulled the heavy, black leather door of the
