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surrounding the Gate  something other than its obviously alien origins  that Korolev's
party found deeply disturbing. For paradoxically, despite its otherness, there was that
about the thing's limbs, its eye sockets and entire skull, that hinted of freakish mutations
and even of some unthinkable human lineage... which only served to make even more
anomalous the creature's incredible jaws, teeth, and acromegalic paws equipped with
claws like chisels.
And yet this thing from the Gate  a mere fighting brute, a mindless warrior  had
worn a golden bit in its mouth, a golden plate with a spike to protect its skull, golden
chains and attachments on its saddle, and a ring of gold weighing half a kilo in its
armoured nose...
_
_
Sitting around the brazier, it was the ratlike physicist Igor Gurevich who, unable to
suppress a shudder, blinked first. Yuri Borisov, a squat bulldog of a man seated on
Aliyev's left, noticing Gurevich's discomfort, pointed at him and said, 'Hah! But you have
been two shades lighter ever since you saw that thing, eh, comrade? Think nothing of it,
for you're not alone. Myself, I no longer venture anywhere near the core, for I've seen
more than enough of that thing. What? It gave me nightmares! It was three-quarters
dead when it burst through, but the sight of it set men screaming like women before
they managed to kill it. I was one of them, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Most of those
holes in its mangy skull were put there by me!'
'What, do you read minds?' Gurevich grimaced.
'No.' Borisov grinned. 'Just expressions. I could see that thing reflected in your
eyes. A creature like that, it makes a nonsense of your physics, your science, eh?'
And Korolev said, 'Is that the reason why you haven't gone through? For fear of
monsters like that waiting for you on the other side?' He spoke directly across the
brazier to Galich.
'It could be one of the reasons.' Galich's purr was more a growl now. Stung by
what he considered an accusation of cowardice, a slur, he narrowed his eyes. 'On the
other hand, we are loyal in our way to the General. He told us to stay here and wait on
his return. Myself, Borisov and Kreisky, we've since agreed to do just that. And anyway,
why should we spoil a good thing? We have a limitless supply of vouchers that we
exchange for whatever we want at the penal garrison in Beresov, and compared to life
in a gulag Perchorsk is a holiday camp.'
'No offence ' now Aliyev spoke up ' but it's clear to me your waiting is in vain.
And loyalty be damned  at this rate you could spend your whole lives here! But that
alien gold you wear: can you imagine what you could do with a ton of it?'
'Oh, we have imagined,' Sol Kreisky, a pockmarked, bearded giant of man  and
a mass murderer of women  answered. 'And we've long since decided on the split. All
that remains for us to do is figure out a way to bring it out!'
'Ah!' said Gurevich. 'There is after all a problem, then?' He nodded knowingly,
and went on, 'I thought that might be the case. This portal is in my line of work, you see;
its properties are fascinating to a scientist such as myself. When we were down there in
the core, I noticed how you men stayed well back from the Gate and asked myself why.
I'm still waiting for an answer. But I remember the Perchorsk Accident; it was all hush-
hush, and I could get no sensible answers to my questions then either. There were
various fantastic rumours, however, about a Gate with properties like those of a black
hole, which once it has drawn you in permits of no return.'
'There you have it,' said Galich. 'Yet another good reason why we haven't
followed Mikhail Suvorov through the Gate.'
'But not good enough,' said Korolev, taking command of the conversation again.
And Igor Gurevich felt the industrialist's elbow in his ribs, warning him to shut up for the
time being.
'Not good enough?' said Galich. 'Again you hint of cowardice. Perhaps you would
undertake to lead us through this Gate, eh, "comrade?"'
'And again you have misinterpreted my comments,' Korolev tut-tutted. 'I make no
accusation of cowardice; indeed, everything you've told us so far makes perfect sense.
But insomuch as you lack a scientist's understanding of the problem, your approach is
wrong. You see only the action and never the reaction  or vice versa, whichever.' He
shrugged dismissively.
'Oh?' said Galich. 'And are you a scientist, too? Both you and this... this
"physicist" here? One glance at the Gate and you've figured it all out? Is that it?'
Korolev sighed, shook his head, said. 'No, my knowledge of science isn't the
equal of Igor Gurevich's. But then again, we don't share the same field of expertise. You
see, where Igor's science is theoretical, mine is practical. I am an industrialist, and as
such far better at mechanics than physics.'
'Mechanics?'
'It's the science of the action of forces on bodies,' Korolev explained. 'Kinetics,
statics, and mechanical interactions. Er, are you any the wiser?'
'Please go on,' Galich purred, beginning to frown a little. 'By all means enlighten
me.'
'First tell me,' said Korolev, 'is it a fact that once you enter that sphere you have
to go on?'
Galich nodded. 'First the General and his expedition, they experienced this
problem. They thought it might be a temporary effect and proceeded anyway. But then,
they had no choice. And eventually three of ours followed them  well, in fact we made [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]