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“Where are you going.” The old woman asked. “I’ll go with you.”
Alice casually opened her bag and felt inside for the ca
“And what’s that?” The old woman asked.
“A thermos.” Alice answered. “If you want something to drink I can open it.”
The old woman didn’t ask anything else; she was too busy watching the sky and the bright point of light that had suddenly appeared before their eyes.
The space ship, with its cargo of astronauts and Space Plague aboard, was coming in for its landing.
The ship descended slowly, like in a dream. For a minute it hung suspended over the field itself, blue flame from its tail playing over the concrete. Then it was on the ground, and a short hurricane carried off the spectators’ hats and caps.
The orchestra began to play, and several space port employees began to unfurl a thick role of white rug from the gate to the ship for the astronauts to walk on to meet the welcoming party.
“What should I do?” Alice asked the little archaeologist. No one was listening to her now; they were all waiting for the ship’s airlock to open and for the astronauts to emerge.
“Are we far from the ship?” Purr asked.
“About three or four hundred yards from the ship. I’d never be able to run there. They’d catch me.”
“Oh.” The archaeologist sighed. “So close, ands till to far! I might be able to make it.”
“But you could never carry the ca
But here again the old woman came to Alice’s erscue. When she saw that the members of Coleida’s government pushed across the barrier and were now on both sides of the long white rug held ready for the astronauts, because they were as thrilled as anyone else and could not stand waiting any more than the old woman, the mother of Engineer Tolo moved away from her police escort and said:
“My son is over there.”
She spoke the words with such firmness and conviction that the policeman could only nod his head and let her pass.
Alice grabbed onto the old woman’s hand, and when the policeman tried to stop her, the old woman turned and said:
“This is his sister. I won’t move a foot without her.”
“Just leave the bag.” The cop said. “They don’t want any bags.”
Alice clutched the bag tightly, and it proved to be a hindrance because the old woman pressed forward and the policeman moved back and Alice was pulled between then. And then Alice heard Purr say in Cosmolingue, which none of the Coleidans could understand:
“Let go! Remember what we’re here for.”
Fortunately, the policeman heard nothing; he was trying to hold back the advancing crowd with his other hand. Alice let go of the bag with Purr in it and hurried forward.
They made it almost as far as the landed ship itself. But then everyone stopped. The old woman too.
The ship’s airlock was slowly turning, opening.
“It must have been like this back on old Earth when they met Gagarin and Gle
And at the very moment that the airlock had slid as far back into the ship as it could go and the first astronaut, the ship’s captain, appeared in the round hatch, Alice jumped between a general and the Prime Minister, darted away from the outstretched hands of the honor guard, and ran for the airlock.
“Stop!” They shouted from behind her.”
“Don’t worry.” Alice heard the old woman’s voice. “That’s my daughter.”
As she darted forward, Alice pulled the vaccine ca
The ship’s captain, watching what was unfolding, burst into laughter, and waved her to one side.
Alice stopped for a moment. She had realized that the airlock was too high there was no way she could reach it. The spray of vaccine would not reach inside the ship.
“Raise the gangplank!” The ship’s captain shouted; evidently, he had decided that Alice wanted to present the astronauts with some gift, and he had decided to let her do it.
A moment later an automatic gangplank rose from the ground and extended itself forward and touched the ship.
“Don’t move!” Alice shouted to the captain, who had been about to step onto the gangplank.
Alice had already jumped onto the gangplank, moving forward, before it could even stop.
Behind her came policemen intent on reaching her and stopping her.
Alice flew like an arrow along the gangway, the ca
She aimed it right in the Captain’s face and pressed the button.
A strong, grey stream of pungent vaccine struck the Captain; out of surprise he jumped back.
Millions of people on Coleida who watched that moment either at the space port itself or on television, gasped in horror. All the inhabitants of Coleida could only believe it was an attempt on the lives of the astronauts.
Alice stood before the returning ship’s airlock and continued to press the button down on the ca
Then the button itself gave a click and the stream of vaccine cut off.
The ca
And out of the still not dissipated cloud a number of strong hands grabbed hold of Alice and dragged her back.
15
The room where Alice found herself was small and completely empty. There was not even a chair. On the other side of the door Alice heard voices. It was not even a proper room, just one of the space port’s many storage lockers that had been hurriedly emptied to hold the state criminal who had made an attempt on the lives of the returning astronauts.
Alice sat on the floor. She was very happy, but very tired and worried about what had become of Purr, the archaeologist.
She understood the panic that had overcome the entire planet of Coleida. Quite likely no one understood anything: everyone was asking his neighbor: ‘Where the astronauts injured?’ And thousands of different and quite terrible rumors were making their way over the planet.
Five minutes passed. And then another five minutes.
“Of course,” Alice thought. “They’re all busy with the astronauts. No one has any time for me.”
Then another thought filled her head. It was all very well and good that she had been able to save Coleida. But what happened now? Wasn’t she ever going to get out of here. And wouldn’t she ever see the noisy and good Gromozeka again and return home, to Earth.
She wanted to cry. And she did cry. Perhaps not so much from sadness for the situation she now found herself in as much as from physical and mental exhaustion. And, when she had cried a little, her mood became somewhat better. Because she understood that she would not remain in this precarious position forever. If they had to, they could bring three more time machines from Earth. And then Petrov, and Richard, and perhaps even Gromozeka himself would come looking for her. And they would explain everything to the Coleidans, and, perhaps, the Coleidans would even pit up a monument to Alice.
So Alice dozed off, leaning against the whitewashed walls.
In fact no one had even bothered to interrogate her yet; a panic had consumed the space port. But when they carted Alice away and the cloud of smelly mist cleared it turned out that the astronauts were completely unharmed. The astronauts had arrived safely, the vast crowd had a deep desire to celebrate, and that is what the people of Coleida proceeded to do. For the moment the people of Coleida had completely forgotten Alice existed.