Monday Begins on Saturday - Boris Strugatski, ebook, CALIBRE SFF 1970s, Temp 1
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Îöåíèòå ýòîò òåêñò: ÏðîãíîçArkadi and Boris Strugatsky. Monday begins on Saturday------------------------------------------------------------------------© Copyright Arcady and Boris Strugatsky, 1966© Copyright Translated from the Russian by Leonid Renen, 1977© Copyright DAW Books, INC.Origin: "Ponedelnik nachinaetsya v subbotu"------------------------------------------------------------------------BY WAY OF AN INTRODUCTION...There is probably hardly a Russian alive who could not at the drop of ahat recite the opening lines from Pushkin's "Ruslan and Ludmilla," which setthe mood of that fairy tale. They tell of Lukomoriye, the bight in the sea,where a verdant and mighty oak makes a home for a mermaid dwelling in itsbranches and a prison for a learned cat chained to its trunk. A cat who goesround and round on its golden links, singing on his clockwise journey, andtelling tales when unwinding to the left.There, in that enchanted land, are miracles and wonders, and unseenbeasts wandering by unknown paths in the shadowy woods.There stands the house on hen's legs, without doors or windows, andgrove and dale are full of visions strange.There, at dawn, thirty heroes radiant exit from the briny waves, led bytheir sea monarch. There, the youthful prince takes the stern king prisonerin passing, and in the clouds, the magician is bearing off the mightywarrior.There the princess languishes in durance with her faithful wolf; thereBaba Yaga rides by in her mortar and Czar Koschei wastes away incontemplation of his golden hoards. There, in sum, are collected all thewonders of Russian folklore.The Strugatskis, also, make use of this common cultural background toset the stage for their tale at the outset and to prepare the reader for thewonders of hybrid magi-science. But be not deceived-- behind the Daliesquelandscapes, just as in his case, there underlie superb craftsmanship and anunyielding adherence to the rules of objective reason.-- Leonid RenenTranslator------------------------------------------------------------------------MONDAY BEGINS ON SATURDAY by Arkadi & Boris StrugatskiTranslated by Leonid RenenDAW BOOKS, INC. DONALD A. WOLLHEIM, PUBLISHER1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N. Y. 10019ENGLISH TRANSLATION copyright © 1977by DAW Books, INC.All Rights Reserved.Cover art by Bob Pepper.Originally published in Russian by the Young GuardPublishing House, Moscow, 1966.Translation by Leonid Renen.FIRST PRINTING, NOVEMBER 1977 PRINTED IN U.S.A.------------------------------------------------------------------------"But what is the strangest, the most incomprehensible of all, is thefact that authors can undertake such themes-- I confess this is altogetherbeyond me, really... No, no, I don't understand it at all."N.V. Gogol* THE FIRST TALE. Run Around a Sofa *Chapter 1Teacher: Children, write down the proposition:"The fish was sitting in a tree."Pupil: But is it true that fish sit in trees?Teacher: Well . . . it was a crazy fish.School JokeI was approaching my destination. All around, pressing up against thevery edge of the road, the green of the forest yielded now and then to ameadow overgrown with yellow sedge. The sun had been setting for an hour andstill couldn't make it, hanging low on the horizon. The car rolled along,crunching on a gravel surface. I steered around the bigger rocks, and eachmaneuver caused the empty canisters to rattle and clang in the trunk.A couple of men came out of the woods on the right and stopped on theshoulder, looking in my direction. One of them raised his hand. I took myfoot off the gas, scrutinizing the pair. They seemed to be hunters, young,and maybe a bit older than myself. Deciding I liked their looks, I stopped.The one who had raised his hand stuck his swarthy, hawk-nosed facethrough the window and asked, grinning, "Could you give us a lift toSolovetz ?"The second man, with a reddish beard and without a moustache, peeringover his shoulder, was also smiling. These were positively nice people."Sure thing. Get in," I said. "One in the front and one in the back,‘cause I have some junk on the rear seat.""A true philanthropist," pronounced the hawk-nosed one joyfully as heslid the gun off his shoulder and sat down next to me.The bearded one was looking through the rear door in a quandary ofindecision and said, "Eh, could you maybe move it a little?"I leaned over the back of the seat and helped him clean off a spaceoccupied by a sleeping bag and a rolled-up tent. He sat down gingerly,placing his gun between his knees."Shut the door tighter," I said.Everything was going along normally. The car started off. Thehawk-nosed one turned around and started an animated discourse about howmuch nicer it was to be riding in a passenger car than to be traveling onfoot. The bearded one mumbled assent and kept slamming the door. "Pick upthe poncho," I counseled, looking at him through the rear-view mirror."You're pinching it in the door." After five minutes everything finallysettled down. I asked, "Is it some ten kilometers to Solovetz?""Right" answered Hawk-nose, "or a little more. Though, in truth, theroad isn't very good, made mostly for trucks.""The road is quite decent," I contradicted. "I was promised I couldn'tget through at all.""On this road you can get through even in the fall.""Here, maybe but from Korobetz on it's just a plain dirt road.""It's a dry summer this year; everything is dried out from thedrought.""Over by Zatonyie there have been some rains, they say," noted thebearded one on the rear seat"Who said?" asked Hawk-nose."Merlin said."For some reason they both laughed. I fished out my cigarettes, lightedup, and passed them around."Clara Tsetkin brand," said Hawk-nose, studying the pack. "Are you fromLeningrad?""Yes.""Touring?""Touring," I said. "And you-- are you from around here?""Native," said Hawk-nose."Me, I am from Murmansk," offered the bearded one."For Leningrad it must be all the same-- North, whether it's Murmanskor Solovetz," said Hawk-nose."Well, not really," I said politely."Are you going to stop over in Solovetz?" asked Hawk-nose."Of course," I said. "It's Solovetz I am going to.""You have friends or relatives there?""No," I said, "just going to wait up for some friends. They are takingthe shore route and Solovetz is our rendezvous point"I saw a heap of gravel piled up ahead, braked, and said, "Hang ontight" The car bounced and pitched. Hawk-nose banged his nose on the gunbarrel. The engine roared, rocks flew up against the undercarriage."Poor old car," said Hawk-nose."Can't be helped," I said."It's not everyone who would drive on a road like this with his owncar.""I would," I said. The freshly graveled section came to an end."Oh, so it's not your own car," guessed Hawk-nose with some tone ofdisappointment, it seemed to me. I felt piqued."And what sense would there be in buying a car so you could drive onpavement? Where there is pavement there is nothing of interest and whereit's interesting-- there's no pavement.""Yes, of course," Hawk-nose commented diplomatically."It's dumb to make an idol out of a car," I asserted."So it is," said the bearded one. "But not everyone thinks so."We started talking cars and came to the conclusion that if you weregoing to buy anything at all, a GAZ-69 would be best, but unfortunately theywere not for sale to the public. Later Hawk-nose asked, "So, where do youwork?"I answered, "Colossal!"Exclaimed Hawk-nose, "A programmer! That's exactly what we are lookingfor. Listen. Quit your institute and join up with us!""And what do you have to offer?""What do we have?" asked Hawk-nose, turning around."Aldan-three," said The Beard."A well-endowed machine," I said. "Has it been running well?""Well, how shall I say.."I get it," I said."As a matter of fact, it hasn't been debugged yet," said The Beard."Stay here with us and fix it up.""We'll arrange your transfer before you can count to two," addedHawk-nose."What are you working on?" I asked."As with all science-- the happiness of man.""Understood," I said. "Something to do with space?""That too," said Hawk-nose."Well, you know what they say-- let well enough alone," said I."Big city and good pay," said The Beard in a low voice, but I heardhim."Don't," I said, "don't judge it in terms of money.""No, really, I was just kidding," said The Beard. "It's his idea of ajoke," said Hawk-nose. "You couldn't find more interesting work anywhereelse than with us.""Why do you think so?""I am positive.""But I am not convinced."Hawk-nose chuckled. "We'll talk about that some more," he said. "Areyou going to stay long in Solovetz?""Two days maximum.""So we'll talk on day two."The Beard announced: "Personally, I see the hand of fate i...
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