Dangerous Planet
CHAPTER 5
After jumping from the last boulder to the wreckage, Stan entered the corridor, which was only ten meters long, and, warning Shirra with a voice (in case she decided to shoot), opened the cabin door. Throwing an attentive glance at Shearra sitting on the bed, Stan went to the far corner of the cabin and examined several untouched boxes.
"That will be enough for us for a week or two," Shirra said, who silently followed him with her gaze. Stan responded with a shrug, and, agreeing, nodded his head. "But what will we eat and drink further, I do not know?" Shirra added, putting the gun aside. Apparently, she did not part with the weapon for a second from the moment Stan left to inspect the area where they were. "It's unlikely that we'll be stuck in this hole for two weeks," Stan remarked, returning to her and pulling a blaster from his belt. "Yes?" Shirra was surprised. "Yes," Stan answered affirmatively. "In a few days, when you feel better, we'll try to get through the forest to the rest of the wreckage of the spaceship." "It's impossible, Stan," Shirra said, and shook her head. "Why?" Stan asked sharply. "Even after a few days, I still can not walk normally. For you, I will be an unnecessary burden." "I see," Stan said, and his mouth twisted in an ironic grin. "You have to add to this, that I should leave you here with a gun and walk alone. Right?" Shirra blushed slightly, angrily flashed with her eyes at him, and lowered her eyelashes in agreement. "Same to me," Stan snorted contemptuously. "But you should also add that you will never ask me about it, because you least want to be alone here." I guessed? However, there is nothing to guess," he added, seeing as Shirra alternately blushes, then turns pale, "So, baby, let's get along without these empty conversations and get down to business." "I still can not go," Shirra said quietly. "Where are we now?" she asked suddenly. "In the gorge." "Well. I can't even get out of it." "I'll make you a crutch." "But if someone attacks us what then?" "We'll defend ourselves," Stan said. Remembering the strange trees and the green mat which, for sure, was dangerous. "That's for sure," Shirra said with a weary smile. "But I do not think that I can manage to take care of my leg, at the same time watch where to put the crutch, and even shoot from time to time. It's all nonsense," she concluded. "What do you suggest then?" Stan asked sharply. "Nothing," Shirra said simply. "Mg. Tomorrow I'll start making a crutch." Stan realized that Shirra did not mind getting out of this unsafe shelter, but only tried to point out to him the difficulties that might be trapped by him if he took her with him. "Have you eaten anything?" he asked, opening a new box. "So, a little," Shirra grimaced and tried to move her toes with her fingers. They moved, but what good would it do if she could not walk five steps without pain? Well, Stan is tormenting her! "Now I'll make a sandwich." Stan sat next to her and started pulling out some jars. "What's up there?" Shirra asked, watching his actions. "In the woods?" Stan looked at her for a second. "I do not know. Maybe in the woods, too." Shirra shrugged her shoulders and made it clear that since the accident, she had not gone farther than a few steps from the cabin. "Nothing interesting," Stan replied reluctantly, "but if honestly, I did not see anything like that before." he paused for a moment, and then told her about all his adventures. "Now do you imagine what awaits us if we leave this shelter?" he asked after a moment's silence. "We can not get through," Shirra reasoned soberly, who did not like to build vain illusions. "We can," Stan agreed, without even trying to change her mind. "But I've been thinking, and it turns out that we have no other way out. Of course, we can sit here until all these boxes get empty, but what we will do then, I can not imagine." Stan drew his nose with the smell coming from the sandwich and, forgetting that it was for Shirra, bit off a small piece. "Why should we look for these ... What do you call it?" Shirra snapped her fingers and tossed her wavy hair from her forehead, "The rest of the wreck?" "Well, it's a very interesting question," Stan replied with a chuckle. "First, there, perhaps, someone survived from passengers or guys from those services of the ship. Secondly…." Stan stressed, "and most importantly, somewhere there must be a cargo hold, fallen off the ship earlier than the rest parts . And if we find it, mind it – we will be very lucky. " Shirra finally realized what he was trying to say, and a strange twinkle flashed in her eyes. "Can we get help?" she asked quickly, barely able to restrain the urge to grab his hand. "Yes," Stan answered affirmatively, throwing a shadow of a satisfied smile on his tanned face. "But how?" It seems that this question interested Shirra more than others. "It's very simple," Stan said with a smile of superiority. "Even after a wreck like ours in the cargo hold, there must have been something left of the equipment and flying equipment," Stan explained. "But there were no planetary boats on the Horst," Shirra said. "They were supposed to be loaded onto the ship, but somehow they did not." "It does not matter," Stan waved. "We had a flygrav, and in the containers – a repeater and a dozen anti-gravs. If we connect five of them into a single unit and connect to a computer, then using this peculiar platform you can put the repeater in orbit and send a SOS signal from there. Perhaps some spaceship will hear us and come to the rescue. In any case, I could not think of anything else." Stan shook his legs noisily and, silently, finished his sandwich. * * * In the meantime, Shirra considered his plan from all sides, and her face gradually lost the animus that had appeared. "What are you doing?" Stan pricked up his ears, and his hand reached for the blaster. "It's all right, Stan." she smiled faintly and added: "Your plan is good, but I do not even want to talk about the obstacles that, perhaps, yes there are probably waiting for us! The repeater can be damaged, anti-gravs, too ... And anyway," Shirra waved her hand and tiredly leaned back against the improvised pillow. "I know," Stan said, and looked at her with unconcealed annoyance." Could not talk about it." "I could," Shirra agreed. "But what will change from this?" Stan did not say anything to her. He thought about everything else, about ... Hunter! If this mysterious creature were next to him, he would feel much more calm and confident. "What are you thinking about?" Shirra asked in an instant, alert. For some reason it seemed to her that Stan was hiding something from her. "It's a pity that there is no hunter with us," Stan answered. "What kind of hunter?" "The creature we took with us in the cage," Stan explained, wondering how she had managed to forget about her encounter with this outlandish beast. "Ah, I remembered." she smiled and nodded her head. "This is the bag that I saw in the cage, right?" "He's the one," Stan confirmed. "Could he help us?" "Of course," Stan sighed dreamily and took a hunter's control unit from his pocket. "He would protect us from all the surprises on this planet." "And where is he?" Shirra asked, remembering, finally, what the hunter looked like. "How do I know?" Stan frowned, and thoughtfully turned the control unit in his hands. "When I came to my senses after all this, the hunter was not around." "Maybe he died?" "Hardly. In one place the control cabinet was burned, and this, for sure, is his job. Apparently, the hunter left the ship immediately after the control cabin fell into the canyon." "Can you find him somehow?" "Hmmm," Stan shook his head and made a kind of smile on his face. "The hunter will return only if he wants to." "Then why do you need this control unit?" Shirra asked in confusion. "It serves to control the hunter. True, during the accident something happened to him ..." "With the control unit?" Shirra asked. "With the hunter," Stan explained, "he stopped obeying the signal from the generator and nearly killed Neil." "And who is Neil?" "My friend." "Ah-ah-ah," Shirra said with understanding, and for a while thought. Stan, meanwhile, changed his posture noisily and, believing that the conversation was over, he wanted to close his eyes, as if behind a box, he noticed a movement. Looking more attentively, he saw a thin tube of dark color thrust into the crack of the case. Her end from time to time slid along the wall and seemed to examine its surface. Stan touched Shirra's hand and pointed to this tube with his eyes. From fright, Shirra almost shouted, but Stan leaned on her with all his body and clamped his hand over her mouth. "Be silent!" he hissed into her ear. Shirra, crushed by the weight of his body, with a noise breathed out the air with her nose and tried to free her mouth. There was no air to breathe at all. Without paying any attention to her, Stan carefully took the blaster and pointed the weapon to the tube, which, stretching, reached a length of about half a meter. From this tube, a few spotted balls rolled out onto the wall and, with surprising resilience, began to erode the remains of the skin. "Stan, what is it?" Shirra whispered. She managed to free her mouth covered with all the palm of Stan. He silently wiped his hand in his own clothes and pressed the trigger. A dazzling beam in a second turned the tube and balls into a vapor cloud, while the drops of melting metal were flowing down the wall. As soon as the flash went out, Stan with the blaster in his hand jerked the door and rushed along the corridor to the place where the creature penetrated inside. Stopping at the torn and twisted edge of the control cabin, he still had time to see as the creature was slithering between the stones, from its back a piece of a burnt piece of pipe was hanging. Cursing, Stan quickly lifted the blaster and a powerful beam ran through the stones, behind which this creature slid. Before the stones began to melt, the escaped creature burned down, and there was no trace left of it. Still not dropping the weapon, Stan jumped down and approached the place where an unknown and possibly dangerous creature was trying to get inside the compartment. In a rare grass, he found several spotted balls that crawled among the leaves, incomprehensible still alive. Without thinking twice, Stan knocked them with his boot and examined the wall of the compartment in the place where the beam of the blaster hit it.
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