JК
The Stars My Destination ( Tiger! Tiger! ) :: Bester Alfred
Страница: 55 из 164Looking for a damned river to drown in. You're a fool, Gully, and I'm an idiot for letting you trap me into this. Damn you! Damn you! You pull everything down to your imbecile level and you've pulled me down too. Run. Fight. Punch. That's all you know. Beat. Break. Blast. Destroy.Gully!»
Jisbella screamed. There was a clatter of loose stone in the darkness, and her scream faded down and away to a heavy splash. Foyle heard the thrash of her body in water. He leaped forward, shouted: «Jiz!» and staggered over the edge of a precipice.
He fell and struck the water flat with a stunning impact. The icy river enclosed him, and he could not tell where the surface was. He struggled, suffocated, felt the swift current drag him against the chill slime of rocks, and then was borne bubbling to the surface. He coughed and shouted. He heard Jisbella answer, her voice faint and muffled by the roaring torrent. He swam with the current, trying to overtake her.
He shouted and heard her answering voice growing fainter and fainter. The roaring grew louder, and abruptly he was shot down the hissing sheet of a waterfall. He plunged to the bottom of a deep pool and struggled once more to the surface. The whirling current entangled him with a cold body bracing itself against a smooth rock wall.
«Gully! Thank God!»
They clung together for a moment while the water tore at them.
«Gully . . .» Jisbella coughed. «It goes through here.»
«The river?»
«Yes.»
He squirmed past her, bracing himself against the wall, and felt the mouth of an underwater tunnel. The current was sucking them into it.
«Hold on,» Foyle gasped. He explored to the left and the right. The walls of the pool were smooth, without handhold.
«We can't climb out. Have to go through.»
«There's no air, Gully. No surface.»
«Couldn't be forever. We'll hold our breath.»
«It could be longer than we can hold our breath.» «Have to gamble.»
«I can't do it.»
«You must. No other way. Pump your lungs. Hold on to me.»
They supported each other in the water, gasping for breath, filling their lungs. Foyle nudged Jisbella toward the underwater tunnel. «You go first. I'll be right behind. . . . Help you if you get into trouble.»
«Trouble!» Jisbella cried in a shaking voice. She submerged and permitted the current to suck her into the tunnel mouth. Foyle followed. The fierce waters drew them down, down, down, caroming from side to side of a tunnel that had been worn glass-smooth.
Jisbella screamed. There was a clatter of loose stone in the darkness, and her scream faded down and away to a heavy splash. Foyle heard the thrash of her body in water. He leaped forward, shouted: «Jiz!» and staggered over the edge of a precipice.
He fell and struck the water flat with a stunning impact. The icy river enclosed him, and he could not tell where the surface was. He struggled, suffocated, felt the swift current drag him against the chill slime of rocks, and then was borne bubbling to the surface. He coughed and shouted. He heard Jisbella answer, her voice faint and muffled by the roaring torrent. He swam with the current, trying to overtake her.
He shouted and heard her answering voice growing fainter and fainter. The roaring grew louder, and abruptly he was shot down the hissing sheet of a waterfall. He plunged to the bottom of a deep pool and struggled once more to the surface. The whirling current entangled him with a cold body bracing itself against a smooth rock wall.
«Gully! Thank God!»
They clung together for a moment while the water tore at them.
«Gully . . .» Jisbella coughed. «It goes through here.»
«The river?»
«Yes.»
He squirmed past her, bracing himself against the wall, and felt the mouth of an underwater tunnel. The current was sucking them into it.
«Hold on,» Foyle gasped. He explored to the left and the right. The walls of the pool were smooth, without handhold.
«We can't climb out. Have to go through.»
«There's no air, Gully. No surface.»
«Couldn't be forever. We'll hold our breath.»
«It could be longer than we can hold our breath.» «Have to gamble.»
«I can't do it.»
«You must. No other way. Pump your lungs. Hold on to me.»
They supported each other in the water, gasping for breath, filling their lungs. Foyle nudged Jisbella toward the underwater tunnel. «You go first. I'll be right behind. . . . Help you if you get into trouble.»
«Trouble!» Jisbella cried in a shaking voice. She submerged and permitted the current to suck her into the tunnel mouth. Foyle followed. The fierce waters drew them down, down, down, caroming from side to side of a tunnel that had been worn glass-smooth.