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1934-2003

There lived a cheerful man...

In life, his name was not even Kir Bulychev at all, but Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheiko. And for a very long time, colleagues at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences did not realize that their friend, a specialist in the history of the country of Burma, which is now called Myanmar, writes funny and exciting books for children in his free time. And Igor Vsevolodovich himself did not want to tell them.

It must have surprised you. You must have thought: oh, how shy! If we were in his place, we would not be modest, let everyone know about our achievements!

You thought so because you live in a completely different time and in a completely different country. And when Kir Bulychev began to write his books, he was quite seriously afraid that they would bring him not only fame, but also big troubles. After all, he worked in a scientific institution, and not to say that he was listed in such a good account. Not because, of course, that he was a bad scientist - he was just a wonderful scientist, wrote several books about his beloved Burma, defended his dissertation and became a doctor of science. But Igor Mozheiko really did not like the so-called social workloads. I didn’t go to vegetable warehouses (and scientists were then easily sent to vegetable warehouses, because for some reason the people who worked there could not learn to work well for years and could not cope with their work). Didn't go to union meetings. And in general, most of all he valued his family, his friends, his work, his hobbies.

Now it seems normal to us. And at that time, for such views they could be called an “individualist” or even a “private trader”. And this could cost a person dearly, up to and including dismissal from work.

It is not surprising that for his very first science fiction story, which was called "When the Dinosaurs Died" and was published in the "Iskatel" magazine in February 1967, Igor Mozheiko chose literary name, or alias. His wife's name was Kira, and his mother's surname was Bulycheva. This is how Kir Bulychev appeared.

This story is actually a funny story. A completely different story was to be published in the magazine - translated by an American author. But censorship banned this story. There was such an institution in our country then - the leaders of the country with its help indicated what could be read to the population, and what - in no case.

So, the censorship banned the story, and the color cover for the magazine has already been printed, and on it is an illustration for the banned story. Chair, on the chair of the bank, in the bank - a dinosaur. And as many as 300 thousand of such covers were printed!

What was to be done? Send covers to waste paper and print new ones? Yes, it could have been. But this is what additional costs would have to go! The entire editorial staff would certainly have been left without prizes, and even received reprimands. It was then that Kir Bulychev suggested that his friends in the editorial office write a story overnight that would fit that cover. Everyone agreed with him, but only Bulychev himself could do this task. He wrote that a telegram had arrived in Moscow with Far East: Dinosaurs are not extinct and one of them is caught. Here the turmoil begins, they urgently organize a railway platform for transporting a dinosaur, and suddenly a correspondent appears in Moscow who sent a telegram. In his hands is a jar in which a dinosaur sits. “Dinosaurs didn’t die out,” says the correspondent, “but they were greatly reduced.”

The story was urgently put in the issue, the editorial awards were saved, and a new author appeared in Russian science fiction.

So, at least, Kir Bulychev himself wrote about it in his memoirs.

But before becoming a writer, Igor Mozheiko had to go through a lot. When did the Great Patriotic War he was seven years old. Together with his mother and younger sister, he was sent from Moscow to be evacuated to the east. The trains went very slowly, sometimes they stood in the steppe for half a day. During one of the stops, the Mozheiko family almost fell behind the train, when the driver unexpectedly gave the departure and the people who went out for a walk had to catch up with their cars. Nevertheless, Igor and his relatives reached their destination.

At first they lived in the village of Krasny Bor, and then in the small town of Chistopol. They lived hungry and cold: the country was at war, one could only dream of personal comfort. And it so happened that Igor fell seriously ill: his heart caught fire. Scientifically, this is called "rheumatic heart disease." For six months he lay in bed, because the doctors strictly forbade him to get up. But then he nevertheless recovered, got stronger and in 1942 was able to return to Moscow and go to school.

Many years later, already in the new century, Igor Vsevolodovich's heart will still let him down. At first it will be capricious, and then it will stop altogether. But this will not happen soon, but for now little Igor goes to school and reads books. The books are very different, but for some reason, adventure and fantastic ones are remembered better than others. Louis Boussinard, Jacolliot, Alexander Belyaev, Sergei Belyaev, Ivan Efremov, Alexei Tolstoy. If you haven't read these authors yet, you should! Real literature never gets old, real heroes live forever. And among them are the heroes of Kira Bulychev, of course.

True, before Igor Vsevolodovich himself took up the pen, two events of great importance for him took place. Firstly, all his childhood he dreamed of becoming an artist, but eventually entered the Institute foreign languages to the Faculty of Translation. And I learned English there. And secondly, he married early, and he and his wife, like the families of five more married translators, were sent to Burma, where Soviet specialists built the Institute of Technology, a hotel and a hospital.

Burma Bulychev slightly disappointed. It turned out that in the capital of the country, the city of Rangoon, elephants do not roam the streets at all, and the Irrawaddy River is not only full-flowing and powerful, but also muddy and dirty.

But in Rangoon, Igor Mozheiko came across an English bookstore with huge stocks of science fiction. And he could also read the latest issues of Galaxy magazine (Galaxy) there. At that time, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Clifford Simak, Robert Sheckley and Ray Bradbury published there. They were not yet considered undisputed classics, they were young and full of ideas. And almost every day, Igor Mozheiko, having quickly dealt with the urgent matters of construction at the customs or at the warehouse, went into this shop and spent long hours in it.

When the business trip came to an end two years later, Igor Vsevolodovich could probably be considered the greatest connoisseur of English-language fiction in the USSR. Fantasy accumulated in him and was just waiting for a reason to splash out on paper.

Such an occasion was the remaining "ownerless" cover of the "Seeker" magazine. However, you already know about it.

All the science fiction that Kir Bulychev wrote, he himself divided into three parts. First, fiction is "normal", serious, "scientific". Secondly, fiction is parody - short stories about the invented town of Veliky Guslyar. Thirdly, fantasy for children and teenagers - stories about Alisa Selezneva and her friends.

He was best known, of course, from the stories about Alice. There was one simple reason for this: these stories were published very willingly. They did not raise any questions from the then leadership of the country, because they talked about a bright and good future. Of course, they are primarily talented, which is why today's children love to read them and tomorrow's children will surely read them. In addition, there were almost no children's science fiction writers in the USSR. In addition to Kira Bulychev, one can only remember Vladislav Krapivin, while the rest of the science fiction writers for children wrote rarely and reluctantly.

And there was such a situation. Kir Bulychev came to his favorite publishing house "Children's Literature" and offered to include a book of adult fiction in the plan. And in the publishing house they answered him with a sigh: “Do you know how many adult science fiction writers we have in line for publication? But again, there are no children. You write us another book about Alice, please, and we will publish it with pleasure.

So it turned out that the adult fiction of Kira Bulychev is not well known in our country either. But she is very interesting! About the flights of earthlings into space, about adventures on distant planets, is told in a cycle of works about Dr. Pavlysh (the most famous of them is “The Village”). Bulychev's other heroes are fighting galactic criminals and villains: Space Fleet agent Andrey Bruce and Intergalactic Police officer Cora Orvat, characters from the novels The Witches Dungeon and Theseus Abduction. ABOUT parallel world, where many dangerous surprises lie in wait for earthlings, can be read in the Shadow Theater series of books.

And what is most remarkable - all these serious works are quite suitable for young readers: they talk about very difficult things clearly and convincingly.

Kir Bulychev also has books that will be much more interesting topics who is older. He, for example, considered the best of what he wrote, the cycle of novels "The River Chronos". And it talks about our complex Russian history, there are suggestions that it would have happened if it had flowed a little differently than what happened in reality ... Bulychev also wrote a lot of documentary historical books. About how the Second World War went on in Southwest Asia (“Western wind - clear weather”). About how the civilizations of the West and the East developed differently (“1185”)… I hope that in due time you will discover such Bulychev for yourself.

But Bulychev, a television and film screenwriter, you may have already discovered. Maybe, on one of the TV channels or on disks, you saw the series “Guest from the Future”? It is about Alisa Selezneva, based on the story "One Hundred Years Ahead." When it was first filmed, its popularity among schoolchildren in our country was enormous. The story of Kolya Gerasimov, a student of the 6th "B" grade, who, having gone to the store for kefir, found himself in the future, prevented space pirates from stealing Alice's mind-reading device - myelophone, returned to his time and already at home, together with Alice, defeated the pirates, liked by many viewers.

Natasha Guseva, who played Alice, made a special impression on her peers. Thousands of boys wrote letters to her, offering to be friends. And they were all very jealous of the adult uncle, screenwriter Kir Bulychev, who, jokingly, liked to mention at meetings with readers that he always had the opportunity to invite Natasha to an ice cream parlor.

The story with letters received an unexpected continuation. Usually, after all, such movie loves do not end with anything. Schoolchildren grow up, dreams of a distant beauty actress disappear. But one of Natasha's fans turned out to be very stubborn and persistent. He found out her address and bombarded her with declarations of love. And imagine, a few years later they played a wedding, and then their daughter was born! And if it were not for the series, there would be no wedding, no daughter ...

But we digress a little. And I would like to tell you about one more film, the script for which was written by Kir Bulychev. It is called "Through hardships to the stars" and, perhaps, can claim the title of the best sci-fi picture of domestic production.

The action of the picture begins in space. Rescuers accidentally discover a surviving girl on a ship that has crashed. This is Niya from the planet Dessa. There is an ecological catastrophe on her home planet: all nature is destroyed, the population lacks water and air. Earthlings fly to the rescue, but it turns out that not all locals like that they will be rescued. The Dessian oligarch Turanchoks is afraid of losing his profits from the production of gas masks and masks. He tries to interfere with the earthlings, but dies in a skirmish with his former henchman, who has gone over to the side of good. Now nothing can interfere with the salvation of the planet ...

Of course, the filmmakers wanted not only to tell the story of distant Dessa, but also to warn against such a development of events on Earth. It is not for nothing that at the end the inscription appears on the screen: "All the frames of the dying planet Dessa were filmed on planet Earth." Unfortunately, the danger of going too far in the destruction of their own home still threatens earthlings. So, the picture "Through the thorns to the stars", filmed in 1980, is still relevant.

In total, a dozen and a half feature and animated films were staged according to the scripts of Kir Bulychev. In the history of Russian cinema of the 20th century, he wrote his own, extremely curious chapter.

The story "Alice's Journey", which is printed in this book, is also filmed. It is possible that you have not only seen, but have already fallen in love with the cartoon "The Secret of the Third Planet". Of course, he does not repeat the book in all details. For example, in the book there are three captains, and in the cartoon there are only two, it was as if there was no third. Or the wonderful story about forty-three "hares" that had to be removed from the ship "Pegasus" is omitted. Why is that? Yes, because literature and cinema live by their own laws. And when a film is shot too close to the text, it almost always ends up being very boring. Well, take the same "hares". It's fun to read about them. How to show? To shoot how one by one they are found on board and landed? And you will not fall asleep at about the twelfth "hare"?

In general, there is no need to be surprised at the differences between the book and the film. After all, in the main, they are similar. Both there and there they talk about the adventures of Alice and her dad, Professor Seleznev, on different planets. It shows how courage and honesty can help in the most dangerous situations, even when space pirates have fooled you for their own selfish purposes. And about friendship, this great force capable of moving mountains, the book and the film speak with equal admiration.

Read Bulychev!

Alexander Royfe

Chapter 1
Alice the criminal

I promised Alice: “When you finish second grade, I will take you with me on a summer expedition. We will fly on the Pegasus ship to collect rare animals for our zoo.”

I said this back in the winter, right after the New Year. And at the same time he set several conditions: to study well, not to do stupid things and not to engage in adventures.

Alice faithfully complied with the conditions, and nothing seemed to threaten our plans. But in May, a month before departure, an incident happened that nearly ruined everything.

That day I was working at home, writing an article for the "Bulletin of Cosmozoology". Through the open door of the office, I saw that Alice came from school gloomy, threw a bag with a voice recorder and microfilms on the table, refused lunch and instead of her favorite book of recent months, Beasts of Distant Planets, took up The Three Musketeers.

- Are you in trouble? I asked.

“Nothing of the kind,” said Alice. - Why do you think so?

- Yes, it seemed.

Alice thought for a moment, put down her book, and asked:

– Dad, do you happen to have a gold nugget?

– Do you need a big nugget?

- One and a half kilograms.

- How about less?

– To be honest, there is no less. I don't have any self. Why is he to me?

“I don't know,” said Alice. “I just needed a nugget.

I left the office, sat next to her on the sofa and said:

“Tell me what happened there.

- Nothing special. Just need a nugget.

- And if it's completely frank?

Alice took a deep breath, looked out the window, finally decided:

- Dad, I'm a criminal.

- Criminal?

“I committed a robbery, and now I’m probably going to be kicked out of school.

“Pity,” I said. - Well, go on. I hope that everything is not as scary as it seems at first glance.

- In general, Alyosha Naumov and I decided to catch a giant pike. She lives in the Ikshinsky reservoir and devours fry. A fisherman told us about it, you don't know him.

- And what does the nugget have to do with it?

- For baubles.

- We discussed in the class and decided that it was necessary to catch a pike with a lure. A simple pike is caught on a simple lure, and a giant pike must be caught on a special lure. And then Leva Zvansky said about the nugget. And we have a nugget in the school museum. Rather, he was a nugget. One and a half kilograms in weight. One graduate presented his school. He brought it from the asteroid belt.

- And you stole a gold nugget weighing one and a half kilograms?

“That's not true, dad. We borrowed it. Leva Zvansky said that his father was a geologist and he would bring a new one. In the meantime, we decided to make a lure out of gold. Pike will probably bite on such a bait.

– Lot fell at you.

- Well, yes, the lot fell on me, and I could not back down in front of all the guys. Moreover, no one would miss this nugget.

- And then?

- And then we went to Alyosha Naumov, took a laser and sawed this damned nugget. And we went to the Ikshinsky reservoir. And the pike bit off our lure.

“Maybe not a pike.” Maybe a snag. The spinner was very heavy. We looked for her and didn't find her. They dived in turn.

- And your crime was revealed?

- Yes, because Zvansky is a deceiver. He brought a handful of diamonds from home, but he says that there is not a piece of gold. We sent him home with diamonds. We need his diamonds! And then Elena Alexandrovna comes and says: “Young people, clean the museum, I’ll bring first-graders here on an excursion.” There are such unfortunate coincidences! And all of a sudden it showed up. She ran to the director. "Danger! - says (we listened under the door). “Someone has a past in their blood!” Alyoshka Naumov, however, said that he would take all the blame, but I did not agree. If the lot fell, let them execute me. That's all.

- Is that all? I was surprised. “So you confessed?

“I didn’t have time,” said Alice. We've been given until tomorrow. Elena said: either tomorrow the nugget will be in place, or a major conversation will take place. So tomorrow we will be removed from the competition, and maybe even kicked out of school.

- From what competitions?

Tomorrow we have bubble races. School championship. And our team from the class is just Alyoshka, me and Egovrov. Yegovrov cannot fly alone.

“You forgot one more complication,” I said.

You broke our agreement.

“I did,” agreed Alice. – But I hoped that the violation is not very strong.

- Yes? Steal a nugget weighing one and a half kilos, cut it into baubles, drown it in the Ikshinsky reservoir and then not confess! I'm afraid you'll have to stay. The Pegasus will leave without you.

- Oh, dad! Alice said softly. – What are we going to do now?

“Think,” I said, and returned to my office to finish the article.

But it was poorly written. It was a very fluffy story. Like little children, they sawed a museum exhibit.

An hour later I looked out of the office. Alice was not. She ran away somewhere. Then I called the Mineralogical Museum to Fridman, whom I once met in the Pamirs.

A round face with a black mustache appeared on the videophone screen.

“Lenya,” I said, “do you have an extra nugget weighing a kilogram and a half in storerooms?”

- There are five kilograms. And why do you need it? For work?

No, you need to be at home.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Lenya answered, twirling his mustache. - They're all booked.

“I’ll have one of the most overwhelming ones,” I said. My daughter needed it at school.

“Then you know what,” Friedman said, “I’ll give you a nugget.” Or rather, not to you, but to Alice. But you will repay me with kindness for kindness.

- With pleasure.

- Give me a blueberry for one day.

- Cinebarsa. We've got mice.

- In stones?

“I don’t know what they eat, but they started. And don't be afraid of the cat. And the mousetrap is ignored. And from the smell and sight of the bluebars, mice, as everyone knows, run away as fast as they can.

What was I to do? The blue leopard is a rare animal, and I myself will have to go with it to the museum and look there so that the blue leopard does not bite anyone.

“All right,” I said. - Only the nugget came by tomorrow morning, by pneumatic mail.

I turned off the videophone, and immediately the doorbell rang. I opened. Behind the door stood a little white boy in an orange suit of a Venusian scout, with the emblem of the pioneer of the Sirian system on his sleeve.

“Excuse me,” said the boy, “are you Alice's father?”

- Hello. My surname is Yegovrov. Alice at home?

- No. Gone somewhere.

- It's a pity. Can you be trusted?

- To me? Can.

- Then I have a man's conversation with you.

- Like an astronaut with an astronaut?

"Don't laugh," Yegorov blushed. “In time, I will rightfully wear this suit.

“I have no doubt,” I said. "So what's with the men's talk?"

- Alice and I compete at competitions, but then one circumstance happened, because of which she could be removed from the competition. In general, she needs to return one lost thing to school. I give it to you, but not a word to anyone. Clear?

“I see, mysterious stranger,” I said.

- Hold on.

He handed me a bag. The bag was heavy.

- Nugget? I asked.

- Do you know?

- Nugget.

I hope it's not stolen.

- No, what are you! They gave it to me at the tourist club. Well, goodbye.

No sooner had I returned to the office than the doorbell rang again. Behind the door were two girls.

“Hello,” they said in unison. We are first class. Take it for Alice.

They handed me two identical wallets and ran away. In one purse were four gold coins, ancient coins from someone's collection. In the other - three teaspoons. The spoons turned out to be, however, not gold, but platinum, but I could not catch up with the girls.

The hand of an unknown well-wisher threw another nugget into the mailbox. Then Leva Zvansky came and tried to hand me a small box of diamonds. Then a high school student came and brought three nuggets at once.

“I used to collect stones as a child,” he said.

Alice returned in the evening. From the door she said solemnly:

“Dad, don’t be upset, everything worked out. You and I are going on an expedition.

- Why such a change? I asked.

Because I found a nugget.

Alice barely pulled a nugget out of her bag. He looked like he was six or seven kilos.

- I went to Poloskov. To our captain. He called all his acquaintances when he found out what was the matter. And he also fed me dinner, so I'm not hungry.

Then Alice saw nuggets laid out on the table and other gold things that had accumulated during the day in our house.

- Oh oh oh! - she said. Our museum will get rich.

“Listen, criminal,” I said then, “I would never have taken you on an expedition if not for your friends.

- And what about my friends?

- Yes, because they would hardly run around Moscow and look for gold things for a very bad person.

“I'm not such a bad person,” said Alice without much modesty.

I frowned, but at that moment, a pneumatic mail receiver clinked in the wall. I opened the hatch and took out a package with a nugget from the Mineralogical Museum. Friedman kept his promise.

“This is from me,” I said.

“You see,” said Alice. So you are my friend too.

“So it is,” I replied. “But please don’t get carried away.

... The next morning I had to walk Alice to school, because the total weight of the gold reserves in our apartment reached eighteen kilograms.

Passing the bag to her at the entrance to the school, I said:

“I completely forgot about punishment.

- About what?

- You will have to take a blue leopard from the zoo on Sunday and go with him to the Mineralogical Museum.

- With bluebars - to the museum? He's stupid.

- Yes, he will scare mice there, and you will see that he does not scare anyone else.

“Agreed,” said Alice. “But we are going on an expedition anyway.

Kir Bulychev,
ALICE'S JOURNEY

Chapter 1,
CRIMINAL ALICE

I promised Alice: “When you finish second grade, I will take you with me on a summer expedition. We will fly on the Pegasus ship to collect rare animals for our zoo.”

I said this back in the winter, right after the New Year. And at the same time he set several conditions: to study well, not to do stupid things and not to engage in adventures.

Alice faithfully complied with the conditions, and nothing seemed to threaten our plans. But in May, a month before departure, an incident happened that nearly ruined everything.

- Are you in trouble? I asked.

“Nothing of the kind,” said Alice. - Why do you think so?

- Yes, it seemed.

Alice thought for a moment, put down her book, and asked:

– Dad, do you happen to have a gold nugget?

– Do you need a big nugget?

- One and a half kilograms.

- How about less?

– To be honest, there is no less. I don't have any self. Why is he to me?

“I don't know,” said Alice. “I just needed a nugget.

I left the office, sat next to her on the sofa and said:

“Tell me what happened there.

- Nothing special. Just need a nugget.

- And if it's completely frank?

Alice took a deep breath, looked out the window, finally decided:

- Dad, I'm a criminal.

- Criminal?

“I committed a robbery, and now I’m probably going to be kicked out of school.

“Pity,” I said. - Well, go on. I hope that everything is not as scary as it seems at first glance.

- In general, Alyosha Naumov and I decided to catch a giant pike. She lives in the Ikshinsky reservoir and devours fry. A fisherman told us about it, you don't know him.

- And what does the nugget have to do with it?

- For baubles.

- And you stole a gold nugget weighing one and a half kilograms?

- The lot fell on you.

- Well, yes, the lot fell on me, and I could not back down in front of all the guys. Moreover, no one would miss this nugget.

- And then?

- And then we went to Alyosha Naumov, took a laser and sawed this damned nugget. And we went to the Ikshinsky reservoir. And the pike bit off our lure.

“Maybe not a pike.” Maybe a snag. The spinner was very heavy. We looked for her and didn't find her. They dived in turn.

- And your crime was revealed?

- Yes, because Zvansky is a deceiver. He brought a handful of diamonds from home and says that there is not a piece of gold. We sent him home with diamonds. We need his diamonds! And then Elena Alexandrovna comes and says: “Young people, clean the museum, I’ll bring first-graders here on an excursion.” There are such unfortunate coincidences! And all of a sudden it showed up. She ran to the director. “Danger,” he says (we listened under the door), “someone’s past has awakened in the blood!” Alyoshka Naumov, however, said that he would take all the blame, but I did not agree. If the lot fell, let them execute me. That's all.

- Is that all? I was surprised. “So you confessed?

“I didn’t have time,” said Alice. We've been given until tomorrow. Elena said that either tomorrow the nugget would be in place, or a major conversation would take place. So tomorrow we will be removed from the competition, and maybe even kicked out of school.

- From what competitions?

Tomorrow we have bubble races. School championship. And our team from the class is just Alyoshka, me and Egovrov. Yegovrov cannot fly alone.

“You forgot one more complication,” I said.

You broke our agreement.

“I did,” agreed Alice. – But I hoped that the violation is not very strong.

- Yes? Steal a nugget weighing one and a half kilos, cut it into baubles, drown it in the Ikshinsky reservoir and not even confess! I'm afraid you'll have to stay, the Pegasus will leave without you.

- Oh, dad! Alice said softly. – What are we going to do now?

“Think,” I said, and returned to my office to finish the article.

But it was poorly written. It was a very fluffy story. Like little children, they sawed a museum exhibit.

An hour later I looked out of the office. Alice was not. She ran away somewhere. Then I called the Mineralogical Museum to Fridman, whom I once met in the Pamirs.

A round face with a black mustache appeared on the videophone screen.

“Lenya,” I said, “do you have an extra nugget weighing a kilogram and a half in storerooms?”

- There are five kilograms. And why do you need it? For work?

No, you need to be at home.

The story "The Girl from the Earth" or "Alice's Journey" was written by the Soviet science fiction writer Kir Bulychev in 1972. This story is part of a cycle about the adventures of Alisa Selezneva, a schoolgirl living in the distant future. Together with her father, cosmozoologist Igor Seleznev, she conquers space and finds herself in incredible adventure. Of all the stories in this cycle, "The Girl from Earth" is the most famous: the famous cartoon "The Secret of the Third Planet" was created based on the book. The script for the cartoon was written by the author of the book himself - Kir Bulychev. Stories about the adventures of Alice to this day win the hearts of both young readers and loyal fans of the writer.

The meaning of the work

On the one hand, this is a fascinating story about fictional worlds and travels to other planets, and on the other hand, a story about childhood and the worldview of a child. The non-trivial look of the girl Alice, devoid of the conventions of the adult world, helps her defeat her enemies. This is a story in which, without any edification, it is shown where is good and where is evil.

Read the summary of Kir Bulychev Alice's Journey or the Girl from the Earth

"Girl from the Earth" tells the reader about one of the most interesting adventures of Alisa Selezneva. Actions take place in the future, at the end of the 21st century on planet Earth. Here, superluminal ships and robots have long come into use, the solar system has been colonized, and all planets are suitable for life. The people of the Earth are kind, open, honest, they do not know wars and care about the environment.

Alisa Selezneva, a second grade student, a restless and very kind girl, goes on a space expedition with her father and his team on the Pegasus ship. The purpose of the trip is to find rare species of animals to replenish the collection of the Intergalactic Zoo in Moscow. However, the business trip turns around for the heroes extraordinary adventure associated with the search for the missing famous space explorer. And it is the Pegasus team that will have to unravel the mysterious knot of events, and new friends will help Alice and her father not only acquire new types of animals, but also find the Second Captain.

On her journey, Alice will have to get into a stream of exciting adventures: unravel the secret of tadpoles, see a talking bird and a diamond turtle, make friends with Sklif the flying cow and a fluffy indicator, try on an invisibility cap, save a planet inhabited by robots, escape from insidious space pirates and discover The secret of the Third Planet.

Retelling of the story Alice's Journey or The Girl from Earth

Based on this story by Bulychev, a famous cartoon was created. But of course, there is much more information and details in the book. It all starts with the fact that Alice's journey itself (with her father on a space expedition for rare animals) is under threat, because a girl with her classmates stole a gold bar from the museum! .. to make a lure out of it. But it turns out that in the future, gold has completely depreciated. And thanks to the help of friends (mostly aliens), Alice was forgiven.

However, she nearly ruined the expedition again by hiding two classes of her friends in a starship. On the journey, earthlings encounter the mystery of the three missing captains. Hints, oddities, riddles - Alice is very interested in understanding the fate of these heroes. On the way, earthlings get to different planets, for example, creatures live on one, taking one form on one day, and the inhabitants of the other have learned to travel in time. In the intergalactic market, Alice's father acquires many amazing animals.

The girl herself encounters the wounded bird Talker, which Alice has already seen - on the statue of the captains. The talker in the voice of the captain suggests the direction of the search. It becomes clear that the captains must be saved! As a result, the father's ship falls into a trap of pirates, who have been holding the captains captive for several years now. Alice and her companions now also become hostages. In time, the First Captain arrives to the rescue, and also his friend, Verkhovtsev. One of the pirates was disguised as the latter.

By the way, Alice also has an invisibility hat - a gift from a space merchant. Together, the pirates were defeated. There are many beloved heroes in the story: the alien Gromozeka, the pessimist Zeleny, the pirate Veselchak U ... The story teaches courage and curiosity, even in space - these are irreplaceable qualities.

Picture or drawing Girl from Earth

Other retellings for the reader's diary

Summary of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm
At the edge of the forest lived with his wife and two children, Hansel and Gretel, a woodcutter. The family did not even have enough money for food. When there was absolutely nothing to eat, the wife suggested that the woodcutter take the children to the forest, give them a piece of bread and leave them there.
Summary of The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu
The story tells about the trials that the Russian land underwent during the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. This truly terrible period for Rus' began in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Summary Chekhov Swedish match
One morning, a certain Psekov came to the bailiff and announced that his master, Mark Ivanovich Klyauzov, had been killed. The police officer, along with attesting witnesses, arrived at the scene to study the details and interview witnesses.
Summary of Sholokhov Science of Hate
In life, every person is given one single worthwhile chance - the opportunity to love. But many people easily changed it to hatred - this is a terrible feeling when you hate a person with all your heart, and you are ready to do everything to destroy him
Summary of Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades
In the work we are told a story filled with tragedy and hopelessness. In the process of narration, we are introduced to Herman

Alice's Journey

Kir Bulychev

Alisa Selezneva #3

The famous science fiction writer Kir Bulychev (1934-2003) came up with a wonderful heroine - Alisa Selezneva, a girl from the 21st century. The book "Alice's Journey" includes stories about the space journey of Alice, her dad and other members of the Pegasus spacecraft to different planets in search of new animals for the Moscow zoo. As a result, an ordinary scientific expedition turned into a mysterious detective. Thanks to the Pegasus team and, first of all, Alice, two famous heroes were rescued from trouble.

The illustrations for the book were made by the talented artist Nadezhda Bugoslavskaya, who created a very pretty image of Alice.

The book is addressed to children of middle school age.

The book was also published under the titles The Girl from Earth, Alice and the Three Captains, and The Secret of the Third Planet.

[i] Publisher design retained in A4 pdf format.

Kir Bulychev

Alice's Journey

Alice the criminal

I promised Alice: “When you finish second grade, I will take you with me on a summer expedition. We will fly on the Pegasus ship to collect rare animals for our zoo.”

I said this back in the winter, right after the New Year.

And at the same time he set several conditions: to study well, not to do stupid things and not to engage in adventures.

Alice faithfully complied with the conditions, and nothing seemed to threaten our plans. But in May, a month before departure, an incident happened that nearly ruined everything.

- Are you in trouble? I asked.

“Nothing of the kind,” said Alice. - Why do you think so?

- Yes, it seemed.

Alice thought for a moment, put down her book, and asked:

– Dad, do you happen to have a gold nugget?

– Do you need a big nugget?

- One and a half kilograms.

- How about less?

– To be honest, there is no less. I don't have any self. Why is he to me?

“I don't know,” said Alice. “I just needed a nugget.

I left the office, sat next to her on the sofa and said:

“Tell me what happened there.

- Nothing special. Just need a nugget.

- And if it's completely frank?

Alice took a deep breath, looked out the window, finally decided:

- Dad, I'm a criminal.

- Criminal?

“I committed a robbery, and now I’m probably going to be kicked out of school.

“Pity,” I said. - Well, go on. I hope that everything is not as scary as it seems at first glance.

- In general, Alyosha Naumov and I decided to catch a giant pike. She lives in the Ikshinsky reservoir and devours fry. A fisherman told us about it, you don't know him.

- And what does the nugget have to do with it?

- For baubles.

- And you stole a gold nugget weighing one and a half kilograms?

“That's not true, dad. We borrowed it. Leva Zvansky said that his father was a geologist and he would bring a new one.

In the meantime, we decided to make a lure out of gold. Pike will probably bite on such a bait.

- The lot fell on you.

- Well, yes, the lot fell on me, and I could not back down in front of all the guys. Moreover, no one would miss this nugget.

- And then?

- And then we went to Alyosha Naumov, took a laser and sawed this damned nugget. And we went to the Ikshinsky reservoir. And the pike bit off our lure.

“Maybe not a pike.” Maybe a snag. The spinner was very heavy. We looked for her and didn't find her. They dived in turn.

- And your crime was revealed?

- Is that all? I was surprised. “So you confessed?

- From what competitions?

Tomorrow we have bubble races. School championship. And our team from the class is just Alyoshka, me and Egovrov. Yegovrov cannot fly alone.

“You forgot one more complication,” I said.

You broke our agreement.

“I did,” agreed Alice. – But I hoped that the violation is not very strong.

- Yes? Steal a nugget weighing one and a half kilos, cut it into baubles, drown it in the Ikshinsky reservoir and not even confess! I'm afraid you'll have to stay, the Pegasus will leave without you.

- Oh, dad! Alice said softly. – What are we going to do now?

“Think,” I said, and returned to my office to finish the article.

But it was poorly written. It was a very fluffy story. Like little kids! Sawed a museum piece.

An hour later I looked out of the office. Alice was not. She ran away somewhere. Then I called the Mineralogical Museum to Fridman, whom I once met in the Pamirs.

A round face with a black mustache appeared on the videophone screen.

“Lenya,” I said, “do you have an extra nugget weighing a kilogram and a half in storerooms?”

- There are five kilograms. And why do you need it? For work?

No, you need to be at home.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Lenya answered, twirling his mustache. - They're all booked.

“I’ll have one of the most overwhelming ones,” I said. My daughter needed it at school.

“Then you know what,” Friedman said, “I’ll give you a nugget.” Or rather, not to you, but to Alice. But you will repay me with kindness for kindness.

- With pleasure.

- Give me a blueberry for one day.

- Cinebarsa. We've got mice.

- In stones?

“I don’t know what they eat, but they started. And cats are not afraid. And the mousetrap is ignored. And from the smell and appearance of the bluebar mouse, as everyone knows,

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running away wherever their eyes look.

What was I to do? The blue leopard is a rare animal, and I myself will have to go with it to the museum and look there so that the blue leopard does not bite anyone.

“All right,” I said. - Only the nugget came by tomorrow morning, by pneumatic mail.

“Sorry,” the boy said. Are you Alice's father?

- Hello. My surname is Yegovrov. Alice at home?

- No. Gone somewhere.

- It's a pity. Can you be trusted?

- To me? Can.

- Then I have a man's conversation with you.

- Like an astronaut with an astronaut?

"Don't laugh," Yegorov blushed. “In time, I will rightfully wear this suit.

“I have no doubt,” I said. "So what's with the men's talk?"

“I see, mysterious stranger,” I said.

- Hold on.

He handed me a bag. The bag was heavy.

- Nugget? I asked.

- Do you know?

- Nugget.

I hope it's not stolen.

- No, what are you! They gave it to me at the tourist club. Well, goodbye.

No sooner had I returned to the office than the doorbell rang again. Behind the door were two girls.

“Hello,” they said in unison. We are first class. Take it for Alice.

“I used to collect stones as a child,” he said.

Alice returned in the evening. From the door she said solemnly:

“Dad, don’t worry, everything worked out. You and I are going on an expedition.

- Why such a change? I asked.

Because I found a nugget.

Alice barely pulled a nugget out of her bag. He looked like he was six or seven kilos.

- I went to Poloskov. To our captain. He called all his acquaintances when he found out what was the matter. And he also fed me dinner, so I'm not hungry.

Then Alice saw nuggets laid out on the table and other gold things that had accumulated during the day in our house.

- Oh oh oh! - she said. Our museum will get rich.

“Listen, criminal,” I said then, “I would never have taken you on an expedition if not for your friends.

- And what about my friends?

- Yes, because they would hardly run around Moscow and look for gold things for a very bad person.

“I'm not such a bad person,” said Alice without much modesty.

I frowned, but at that moment, a pneumatic mail receiver clinked in the wall. I opened the hatch and took out a package with a nugget from the Mineralogical Museum. Friedman kept his promise.

“This is from me,” I said.

“You see,” said Alice. So you are my friend too.

“So it is,” I replied. “But please don’t get carried away.

The next morning I had to walk Alice to school, because the total weight of the gold reserves in our apartment reached eighteen kilograms.

Passing the bag to her at the entrance to the school, I said:

“I completely forgot about punishment.

- About what?

- You will have to take a blue leopard from the zoo on Sunday and go with him to the Mineralogical Museum.

- With bluebars - to the museum? He's stupid.

- Yes, he will scare mice there, and you will see that he does not scare anyone else.

“Agreed,” said Alice. “But we are going on an expedition anyway.

forty three hares

The last two weeks before departure were in a hurry, excitement and not always necessary running around. I hardly saw Alice.

Firstly, it was necessary to prepare, check, transport and place cages, traps, ultrasonic baits, traps, nets, power plants and a thousand other things that are needed to catch animals in the Pegasus. Secondly, it was necessary to stock up on medicines, food, films, clean film, apparatus, voice recorders, spotlights, microscopes, herbarium folders, notebooks, rubber boots, calculating machines, sun and rain umbrellas, lemonade, raincoats, panamas, dry ice cream, autoplanes and a million other things that may or may not be needed on an expedition. Thirdly, since we will be descending on scientific bases, stations and various planets along the way, we need to take cargo and parcels with us: oranges for astronomers on Mars, herring in jars for the Minor Arcturus scouts, cherry juice, ink and rubber glue for archaeologists in the 2-BC system, brocade gowns and electrocardiographs for the inhabitants of the planet Fix, a walnut tree set won by an inhabitant of the planet Zamora in the quiz "Do you know the solar system?" we were brought to the last minute by grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, children and grandchildren of those people and aliens with whom we will have to see. In the end, our Pegasus became like Noah's Ark, a floating fair, a Supermarket store, and even a warehouse of a trading base.

I lost six kilograms in two weeks, and the captain of the Pegasus, famous astronaut Poloskov, aged six years.

Since the Pegasus is a small ship, the crew on it is small. On Earth and other planets, I, Professor Seleznev from the Moscow Zoo, command the expedition. The fact that I am a professor does not mean at all that I am already old, gray-haired and important person. It so happened that since childhood I have loved all kinds of animals and have never exchanged them for stones, stamps, radios and other interesting things. When I was ten years old, I joined the youth group at the zoo, then I left school and went to university to study biology.

In the meantime, he continued to spend every free day at the zoo and biological laboratories. When I graduated from university, I knew so much about animals that I could write my first book about them. At that time, there were no high-speed ships that fly to any part of the Galaxy, and therefore there were few space zoologists. Twenty years have passed since then, and there are a lot of space zoologists. But I was one of the first. I flew around many planets and stars and, without noticing it, became a professor.

When the Pegasus leaves the solid ground, Gennady Poloskov, the famous cosmonaut and commander of the ship, becomes the master on it and the main boss over all of us. We met him before, on distant planets and scientific bases. He often visits our house and is especially friendly with Alice. Poloskov does not at all look like a brave cosmonaut, and when he takes pictures

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the uniform of a starship captain, then he can be mistaken for an educator in kindergarten or a librarian. Stripes of short stature, white, silent and very delicate. But when he sits in his chair on the bridge of the spaceship, he changes - and his voice becomes different, and even his face acquires firmness and determination. Poloskov never loses his presence of mind, and he is highly respected in the space fleet. I had a hard time getting him to captain the Pegasus, because Jack O'Coniola was trying to get him to accept a new passenger liner on the Earth-Fix line. And if not for Alice, I would never have persuaded Poloskov.

The third member of the Pegasus crew is mechanic Zeleny. He is a large man with a lush red beard. He is a good mechanic and flew five times with Poloskov on other ships. His main pleasure is to dig into the engine and fix something in the engine room. This is actually an excellent quality, but sometimes Zeleny gets carried away, and then some very important machine or device turns out to be dismantled at the very moment when they are very needed. And Zeleny is also a big pessimist. He thinks that "this" will not end well. What is this"? Yes all. For example, he read in some old book that one merchant cut himself with a razor and died of blood poisoning. Although now on the whole Earth there is no such razor to cut himself, and all men smear their faces with paste in the morning, instead of shaving, he grew a beard just in case. When we get to an unknown planet, he immediately advises us to fly away from here, because there are no animals here anyway, and if there are, then they are such that the zoo does not need them, and if they are, then we still can’t take them to Earth, and so Further. But we are all accustomed to Zeleny and do not pay attention to his grumbling. And he does not take offense at us.

The fourth member of our crew, except for the kitchen robot, which is always breaking down, and all-terrain vehicles, automatic machines, was Alice. She, as you know, is my daughter, she finished the second grade, something always happens to her, but all her adventures so far ended happily. Alice is a useful person on the expedition - she knows how to take care of animals and is almost not afraid of anything.

The night before the flight, I slept badly: it seemed to me that someone was walking around the house and slamming doors. When I got up, Alice was already dressed, as if she had not gone to bed. We went down to the plane. There were no things with us, except for my black folder and Alice's shoulder bag, to which flippers and a spearfishing harpoon were tied. The morning was cold, chilly and fresh. The meteorologists promised to give rain in the afternoon, but, as always, they were a little mistaken, and their rain poured out during the night. The streets were empty, we said goodbye to our relatives and promised to write letters from all planets.

The aircraft slowly rose above the street and flew lightly to the west, towards the cosmodrome. I gave control to Alice, and I took out long lists, corrected and crossed out a thousand times, and began to study them, because Captain Poloskov swore to me that if we did not throw at least three tons of cargo, we would never be able to get off the Earth.

I did not notice how we flew to the spaceport. Alice was concentrated and seemed to think about something without ceasing. She was so distracted that she lowered the plane at a strange ship that was loading piglets to Venus.

At the sight of the car descending from the sky, the piglets jumped in different directions, the robots accompanying them rushed to catch the fugitives, and the loading manager scolded me for trusting the landing little child.

"She's not so small," I replied to the boss. She finished second grade.

“All the more embarrassing,” said the chief, clutching a newly caught piglet to his chest. “We won’t pick them up until tonight!”

I looked at Alice reproachfully, took the wheel and drove the car to the white Pegasus. "Pegasus" in the days of his ship's youth was a high-speed mail ship. Then, when faster and more spacious ships appeared, the Pegasus was remade for expeditions. It had capacious holds, and it has already served both geologists and archaeologists, and now it has come in handy for the zoo. Poloskov was waiting for us, and before we had time to say hello, he asked:

- Have you figured out where to put three tons?

“Thinking of something,” I said.

- Tell me!

At that moment, a modest grandmother in a blue shawl approached us and asked:

“Will you take a small package for my son to Aldebaran with you?”

- Well, - Poloskov waved his hand, - this was still not enough!

“Very little,” Grandma said. - Two hundred grams, no more. Can you imagine what it would be like for him not to receive any birthday present?

We didn't imagine.

- What's in the package? asked the delicate Poloskov, surrendering to the mercy of the winner.

- Nothing special. Cake. Kolya loves cakes so much!

And a stereotape showing his son and my granddaughter learning to walk.

"Drag," said Poloskov gloomily.

I looked where Alice was. Alice has disappeared. The sun was rising over the spaceport, and the long shadow from the Pegasus reached the spaceport building.

“Listen,” I said to Poloskov, “we will transfer part of the cargo to the Moon on a regular ship. And it will be easier to launch from the Moon.

“I thought so too,” said Poloskov. - Just in case, we will remove four tons so that there is a reserve.

- Where can I send the parcel? Grandma asked.

“The robot will accept it at the entrance,” Poloskov said, and we began to check what to unload to the Moon.

Out of the corner of my eye, I looked where Alice had gone, and therefore drew attention to my grandmother with the parcel. Grandmother stood in the shadow of the ship, arguing quietly with the loader robot. Behind my grandmother was a heavily overloaded cart.

“Poloskov,” I said, “pay attention.

“Oh,” said the brave captain. - I won't survive this!

With a tiger leap, he jumped up to his grandmother.

“Parcel,” said the grandmother timidly.

– Cake?

- Cake. Grandmother has already recovered from her fright.

- So big?

“Sorry, Captain,” Grandmother said sternly. - Do you want my son to eat alone the cake I sent, without sharing it with his one hundred and thirty workmates? Do you want that?

- I don't want anything else! - said the driven Poloskov. I stay at home and don't fly anywhere. Clear? I'm not going anywhere!

The battle with my grandmother lasted half an hour and ended in Poloskov's victory. In the meantime, I went into the ship and ordered the robots to remove oranges and walnut sets from the side.

I met Alice in the far passage of the cargo hold and was very surprised at the meeting.

– What are you doing here? I asked.

Alice hid a bunch of bagels behind her back and answered:

- Meet the ship.

At last, by twelve o'clock, we had finished reloading. Everything was ready. We once again checked the weight of the cargo with Poloskov - we got a reserve of two hundred kilograms, so that we could safely rise into space.

Poloskov called Zeleny the mechanic on the intercom. The mechanic sat at the controls, combing his red beard. Poloskov leaned close to the screen

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videophone and asked:

- Can we start?

“At any moment,” Zeleny said. Although I don't like the weather.

“Control room,” Poloskov said into the microphone. “Pegasus is asking to take off.

“Just a minute,” the dispatcher replied. - Don't you have free space?

“Not a single one,” Poloskov said firmly. We don't take passengers.

– But, maybe you can take at least five people? the dispatcher said.

- What for? Are there no cruise ships?

- Everyone is overloaded.

- Why?

“Don't you know? On the Moon today is a football match for the Cup of the Galactic Sector: Earth - Planet Fix.

Why on the moon? - surprised Poloskov, who was not interested in football and generally fell behind reality during the days of preparation for the flight.

- A naive person! the dispatcher said. - How will the Fixians play with earthly gravity? They will have a hard time on the moon.

"So we're going to beat them?" Poloskov asked.

“I doubt it,” the dispatcher replied. “They poached three defenders from Mars and Simon Braun.

“I would like your worries,” said Poloskov. - When do you take off?

“And yet we will win,” Alice, who quietly entered the bridge, intervened in the conversation.

- That's right, girl, - the dispatcher was delighted. – Can you take the fans? To send all comers, I need eight ships. I have no idea what to do. And all the applications are coming in.

“No,” Poloskov snapped.

- Well, it's up to you. Start your engines.

Poloskov switched to the engine room.

“Green,” he said, “turn on the planetary ones.” Just a little. Let's check if there is an overload.

– Why be overloaded? I was outraged. We've counted everything.

The ship trembled slightly, gaining power.

"Five-four-three-two-one - launch," said the captain.

The ship shuddered and stayed where it was.

- What's happened? Poloskov asked.

- What happened to you? – asked the dispatcher, who was watching our launch.

"It doesn't work," Zeleny said. “I told you, nothing good will come of this.

Alice sat fastened to the chair and did not look in my direction.

“Let's try again,” said Poloskov.

“You don’t have to try,” Zeleny replied. – Significant overload. I have instruments in front of my eyes.

Poloskov tried once again to lift the Pegasus, but the ship stood still as if chained. Then Poloskov said:

We have some miscalculations.

“No, we checked with a calculating machine,” I replied. We have a reserve of two hundred kilograms.

“But then what happens?”

- We'll have to throw the cargo overboard. We can't waste time. With what hold shall we start?

“From the first,” I said. - There are parcels. Let's wait for them on the moon.

“But not from the first,” said Alice suddenly.

“Well, okay,” I answered her mechanically. - Then let's start with the third - there are cages and nets.

“Not from the third,” said Alice.

– What is this? Poloskov asked sternly.

And at that moment the dispatcher got in touch again.

“Pegasus,” he said, “you have received a complaint.

- What's the complaint?

- I turn on the help desk.

The waiting room appeared on the screen. The information desk was crowded with people. I recognized several familiar faces among them. How do they know me?

The woman closest to the information desk said looking at me:

- Still, it's embarrassing. You can't indulge in pranks like that.

- What pranks? I was surprised.

- I told Alyosha: you don’t fly to the moon, you have five triples in the fourth quarter.

“And I forbade Leva to fly to this match,” another woman supported her. - I could watch it on TV.

“Yeah,” I said slowly. I finally recognized the people who had gathered at the information desk: they were the parents of the guys from Alice's class.

“Everything is clear,” said Poloskov. - And do we have a lot of "hares" on board?

“I didn’t think we were overloaded,” Alice said. – The guys could not miss the match of the century! What happens - I'll take a look, but they don't?

- And we have a lot of "hares"? repeated Poloskov in a steely voice.

“Our class and two parallel ones,” Alice said quietly. - While dad was sleeping at night, we flew to the spaceport and climbed onto the ship.

"You're not flying anywhere," I said. “We cannot take irresponsible people on the expedition.

"Dad, I won't do it again!" Alice pleaded. “But understand, I have a highly developed sense of duty!”

“We could have broken up because of your sense of duty,” Poloskov answered.

In fact, he forgives everything to Alice, but now he is very angry.

We removed the last "hare" from the hold in twenty-three minutes. After another six, they were all already standing, terribly distressed and sad, by the ship, and mothers, fathers and grandmothers ran towards them from the cosmodrome building.

In total, "hares" on the "Pegasus" turned out to be forty-three people. I still don’t understand how Alice managed to place them on board, and we didn’t notice any of them.

- Good luck, Alice! Alyosha Naumov shouted from below when we finally went up to the hatch. - Cheer for us! And come back soon!

- The earth will win! .. - Alice answered him. “It didn’t work out well, dad,” she told me when we had already risen above the Earth and headed for the moon.

“Not good,” I agreed. - I'm ashamed of you.

“That's not what I'm talking about,” Alice said. - After all, the third "B" flew into in full force still at night in potato sacks on a cargo barge. They will be at the stadium, but our second classes will not. I did not justify the trust of my comrades.

- And where did you put the potatoes from the sacks? Poloskov asked, surprised.

Have you heard of the three captains?

When the Pegasus landed on the lunar spaceport, I asked my companions:

- What are your plans? We're leaving tomorrow at 6:00 am.

Captain Poloskov said that he was staying on the ship to prepare it for departure.

Mechanic Zeleny asked permission to go to football.

Alice also said that she would go to football, although without any pleasure.

- Why? I asked.

– Have you forgotten? There will be all the third "B" at the stadium, and I'm the only one from the second classes. It's all your fault.

- And who landed my guys from the Pegasus?

We couldn't get up! And what would their parents say about me? Will something happen?

- Where? Alice was outraged. – In the solar system?

At the end of the twenty-first century?

When Alice and Zeleny left, I decided for the last time to have a cup of coffee in a real restaurant and went to Selena.

The huge hall of the restaurant was almost full. I stopped near the entrance, looking for a place, and heard a familiar thunderous voice:

Who do I see!

My old friend Gromozeka sat at the far table. I had not seen him for five years, but I never forgot about him for a minute. Once we were very friendly, and our acquaintance began with the fact that I managed to save Gromozeka in the jungle of Eurydice. Gromozeka fought off the archeological party, got lost in the forest and almost got into the teeth of the Little Dragon, a sixteen-meter-long vicious creature

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At the sight of me, Gromozeka lowered his tentacles folded for convenience to the floor, opened his half-meter mouth in a charming smile, friendly reached out towards me with sharp claws and, picking up speed, rushed in my direction.

Some tourist, who had never seen the inhabitants of the planet Chumaroz before, squealed and fainted. But Gromozeka was not offended by him. He tightly wrapped his tentacles around me and pressed me against the sharp plates on his chest.

- Old man! he roared like a lion. - Long time no see! I was about to fly to Moscow to see you, and suddenly - I can’t believe my eyes ... What fate?

"Let's go on an expedition," I said. – In a free search in the Galaxy.

- This is amazing! Gromozeka said with feeling. – I am happy that you managed to overcome the intrigues of the ill-wishers and go on an expedition.

But I don't have any detractors.

“You won’t deceive me,” said Gromozeka, shaking reproachfully in front of my nose with sharp, curved claws.

I did not object, because I knew how suspicious my friend was.

- Sit down! Gromozeka ordered. - A robot, a bottle of Georgian wine for my best friend and three liters of valerian for me personally.

- Yes, - answered the robot waiter and drove off to the kitchen to fulfill the order.

- What's up? Gromozeka interrogated me. - As a wife? Like a daughter? Already learned to walk?

“He is in school,” I said. - Graduated from second grade.

- Fabulous! Gromozeka exclaimed. How fast time flies...

Then a sad thought came to my friend, and, being a very impressionable person, Gromozeka groaned deafeningly, and smoking acrid tears rolled down from eight eyes.

- What happened to you? I got worried.

Just think how fast time flies! Gromozeka said through tears. “Children grow up, and you and I grow old.

Feeling emotional, he blew four jets of acrid yellow smoke from his nostrils, which enveloped the restaurant, but immediately pulled himself together and announced:

“Excuse me, noble patrons of the restaurant, I will try not to cause you any more trouble.

Smoke billowed between the tables, people coughed, and some even left the room.

“Let’s go, too,” I said, panting, “otherwise you’ll do something else.”

“You're right,” Gromozeka agreed meekly.

We went out into the hall, where Gromozeka occupied a whole sofa, and I sat down next to him on a chair. The robot brought us wine and valerian, a glass for me and a liter jar for the plague.

– Where do you work now? I asked Gromozeka.

“Let's dig the dead city on Coleida,” he replied. “I flew here for infrared detectors.

“An interesting city on the Coleida?” I asked.

“Perhaps interesting,” Gromozeka, who was terribly superstitious, answered cautiously. In order not to jinx it, he drew four times with his tail near his right eye and said in a whisper: - Baskuribariparata.

– When do you start? I asked.

– Weeks through two start with Mercury. There is our temporary base.

“Strange, inappropriate place,” I said. “Half of the planet is hot, half is an icy desert.

“Nothing surprising,” said Gromozeka, reaching for the valerian again. “We found the remains of a Midnight Strider ship there last year. Here they worked. Yes, I'm all about myself and about myself! Tell me more about your itinerary.

“I only know about him approximately,” I replied. - We will first fly around several bases in the neighborhood of solar system, and then go to the free search. There is a lot of time - three months, the ship is roomy.

“Aren’t you going to Eurydice?” Gromozeka asked.

- No. The small dragon is already in the Moscow Zoo, but, unfortunately, no one has yet been able to catch the Big Dragon.

“Even if you caught him,” Gromozeka said, “you still can’t take him away on your ship.

I agreed that you could not take the Big Dragon on the Pegasus. If only because his daily diet is four tons of meat and bananas.

We were silent for a bit. It's nice to sit with an old friend, not to rush anywhere. An old tourist woman in a purple wig decorated with wax flowers came up to us and timidly held out a notebook.

“Will you refuse,” she asked, “to write me an autograph as a memento of a chance meeting?”

- Why not? Gromozeka said, holding out a clawed tentacle for a notebook.

The old woman closed her eyes in horror, and her thin hand trembled.

Gromozeka opened his notepad and on a blank page wrote in a flourish:

“To a beautiful, young earthling from a loyal admirer from the foggy planet Chumaroz. Restaurant "Selena".

“Thank you,” the old woman whispered and stepped back with small steps.

Did I write well? Gromozeka asked me. - Touching?

“Touching,” I agreed. “Just not quite right.

- This is not a young dugout at all, but an elderly woman.

And in general - a dugout used to be called primitive housing dug in the ground.

- Oh, what a shame! Gromozeka got upset. But she has flowers on her hat. Now I'll catch up with her and rewrite her autograph.

“Don’t be, friend,” I stopped him. You will only scare her.

“Yes, the burden of glory is heavy,” said Gromozeka. “But it's nice to know that Chumarosa's greatest archaeologist will be recognized even on the distant Earth's moon.

I did not dissuade my friend. I suspected that the old woman had never met any of the cosmoarchaeologists in her life. She was simply struck by the appearance of my friend.

“Listen,” said Gromozeka, “an idea came to me. I will help you.

“Have you heard of the planet named after the Three Captains?”

I read it somewhere, but I don't remember where or why.

- Then it's great.

Gromozeka leaned closer, put a heavy, hot tentacle on my shoulder, straightened the shiny plates on my stomach, which was round like a small balloon, and began:

“There is a small uninhabited planet in sector 19-4. Previously, she did not even have a name - only a digital code. Now the astronauts call it the planet named after the Three Captains. And why? There, on a flat stone plateau, three statues rise. They were placed in honor of three space captains. They were great explorers and brave people. One of them was from Earth, the second from Mars, and the third captain was born on Fix. Hand in hand, these captains passed the constellations, descended on planets where it was impossible to descend, saved entire worlds that were in danger. It was they who first conquered the jungle of Eurydice, and one of them shot the Big Dragon. It was they who found and destroyed the nest of space pirates, although there were ten times more pirates. It was they who descended into the methane atmosphere of Golgotha and found there the philosopher's stone, lost by Kursak's convoy. It was they who blew up a poisonous volcano that threatened to exterminate the population of an entire planet. You can talk about their exploits for two weeks in a row ...

“Now I remember,” I interrupted Gromozeka. “Of course, I heard about the three captains.

- That's it, - Gromozeka grumbled and drank a glass of valerian. We quickly forget heroes. Ashamed. Gromozeka shook his soft head reproachfully and continued: “The captains parted ways a few years ago. The first captain became interested in the Venus project.

“Well, I know,” I said. - So,

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so he is one of those who change its orbit?

- Yes. The First Captain always loved grandiose plans. And when he found out that it was decided to drag Venus away from the Sun and change its rotation period so that people could populate it, he immediately offered his services to the project. And this is nice, because scientists decided to turn Venus into a huge spaceship, but there is no person in the Galaxy who would be better than the first captain in understanding space technology.

What about the other captains? I asked.

- The second, they say, died no one knows where and no one knows when. The third captain flew to the neighboring galaxy and will return in a few years. So I want to say that the captains met many rare, wonderful animals and birds. They probably left some notes, diaries.

- Where are they?

“The diaries are kept on the planet of the Three Captains. Next to the monuments erected by the noble contemporaries by subscription held on eighty planets, there is a laboratory and a memorial center. Doctor Verkhovtsev lives there permanently. He knows more about the three captains than anyone in the galaxy. If you go there, you won't regret it.

“Thank you, Gromozeka,” I said. “Maybe you should stop drinking valerian?” You yourself complained to me that it had a bad effect on the heart.

- What to do! my friend spat out his tentacles. “I have three hearts. For some of them, valerian has a very detrimental effect. But I can't figure out which one.

We spent another hour reminiscing about old acquaintances and the adventures that we had to endure together. Suddenly the door to the hall swung open, and a crowd of people and aliens appeared. They carried the players of the Earth team in their arms. Music played, cheers rang out.

Alice jumped out of the crowd.

- Well! she called when she saw me. - The Varangians from Mars did not help the Fixians! Three is one. Now meeting on a neutral field!

What about the third "B"? I asked sarcastically.

“There were none,” said Alice. “I would definitely see them. Probably the third "B" was intercepted and sent back. In potato sacks. So they need it!

“You are a mischievous person, Alice,” I said.

- No! Gromozeka roared indignantly. “You have no right to insult a defenseless girl like that!” I won't let her hurt!

Gromozeka wrapped his tentacles around Alice and lifted her up to the ceiling.

- No! he repeated indignantly. “Your daughter is my daughter. I will not let.

“But I am not your daughter,” Alice said from above. Luckily, she wasn't too scared.

But the mechanic Zeleny was much more frightened. At that moment he entered the hall and suddenly saw that Alice was beating in the tentacles of a huge monster. Zeleny didn't even notice me. He rushed towards Gromozeka, waving his red beard like a banner, and ran into my friend's round belly.

Gromozeka grabbed Zeleny with his free tentacles and put him on the chandelier. Then he carefully lowered Alice and asked me:

- Did I get a little excited?

“A little,” Alice answered for me. “Put the Green down to the floor.

“He won't attack archaeologists,” Gromozeka replied. - I don't want to take it off. Hello, see you tonight.

I remembered that I had to visit the base warehouse before the end of the working day.

And, slyly winking at Alice, Gromozeka staggered away towards the airlock. The smell of valerian wafted through the hall.

We removed the green from the chandelier with the help of the football team, and I was a little offended by Gromozeka, because my friend, although a talented scientist and faithful comrade, is poorly educated, and his sense of humor sometimes takes strange forms.

- So where are we going? Alice asked as we approached the ship.

“First of all,” I said, “we will take the cargo to Mars and the scouts of the Minor Arcturus. And from there - a direct move to sector 19-4, to the base named after the Three Captains.

Long live the three captains! said Alice, although she had never heard of them before.

The tadpoles are gone

The scouts of the Lesser Arcturus met the Pegasus very solemnly. As soon as we landed on the metal flooring of the landing area, which staggered under the ship's load and rotten red water splashed into the gap between the strips, they famously rolled up to us in an all-terrain vehicle. Three good fellows in red caftans, put on over spacesuits, stepped out of the all-terrain vehicle. They were followed by three more astronauts in luxurious sundresses, also worn over spacesuits. Well done and young women carried bread and salt on dishes. And when we landed on the wet metal strips of the cosmodrome, they put wreaths of local lush flowers on our spacesuit helmets.

In our honor, a gala dinner was prepared in the cramped wardroom of the scout base. We were treated to canned compote, canned duck and canned sandwiches. Mechanic Zeleny, who was the chef on the Pegasus, also did not lose face - he put real apples, real whipped cream with real currants and, most importantly, real black bread on the festive table.

Alice was the main guest. All scouts are adults, their children stayed at home - on Mars, on Earth, on Ganymede, and they missed real children very much. Alice answered all sorts of questions, honestly tried to seem dumber than she really is, and when she returned to the ship, she complained to me:

“They want me to be a little silly kid so much that I didn’t upset them.

The next day, we handed over all the cargo and parcels to the scouts, but, unfortunately, it turned out that they would not be able to invite us to hunt for local animals: the season of storms began, all rivers and lakes overflowed their banks and it was almost impossible to travel around the planet.

- Do you want us to catch a tadpole for you? asked the head of the base.

“Well, at least a big head,” I agreed.

I have heard about various reptiles of Arcturus, but I have not yet met a tadpole.

Two hours later, the scouts brought a large aquarium, at the bottom of which meter-long tadpoles, similar to giant salamanders, were dozing. Then the scouts dragged a box of algae up the ladder.

“This is food for the first time,” they said. - Keep in mind that tadpoles are very voracious and grow quickly.

– Need to prepare a bigger aquarium? I asked.

“Even a swimming pool is better,” the head of the scouts replied.

Meanwhile, his comrades were dragging another box of food up the ladder.

How fast do they grow? I asked.

- Pretty fast. I can’t be more precise,” the head of the scouts replied. We don't keep them in captivity.

He smiled enigmatically and spoke of something else.

I asked the chief of scouts:

– Have you ever been on the planet named after the Three Captains?

“No,” he replied. “But sometimes Dr. Verkhovtseff comes to visit us. He was here just a month ago. And I have to tell you, he's a big weirdo.

- And why?

- For some reason, he needed the drawings of the Blue Seagull ship.

"Excuse me, but what's so strange about that?"

“This is the Second Captain's ship, which went missing four years ago.

“And why does Verkhovtsev need this ship?”

- Exactly - why? I asked him about this. It turns out that he is currently writing a book about the exploits of three captains, a documentary novel, and cannot continue work without knowing how this one works.

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Was this ship special?

The head of the base smiled indulgently.

“You, I see, are not in the know,” he said. - The ships of the three captains were made by special order, and then rebuilt by the captains themselves - after all, they were jack-of-all-trades. They were amazing ships! Adapted for all sorts of surprises. One of them, "Everest", which belonged to the First Captain, is now in the Paris Space Museum.

- Why couldn't Verkhovtseff ask the Paris Space Museum? I was surprised.

– So all three ships were different! exclaimed the head of the scouts. - The captains were people with character and never did anything twice.

- All right, - I said, - we will fly to Verkhovtsev. Give us, please, the coordinates of his base.

“With pleasure,” replied the head of the scouts. Give him our big regards. And don't forget to move the tadpoles to the pool.

We said goodbye to the hospitable scouts and flew away.

Before going to bed, I decided to examine the tadpoles. It turned out that their resemblance to salamanders is only superficial. They were covered with hard, shiny scales, they had large sad eyes with long eyelashes, short tails forked and ended in thick, stiff brushes.

I decided that I would transfer the tadpoles to the pool in the morning - nothing would happen to them overnight in the aquarium. I tossed two armfuls of seaweed to the tadpoles and put out the light in the hold. The beginning has been made - the first animals for the zoo are already on board the Pegasus.

Alice woke me up in the morning.

“Dad,” she said, “wake up.

- And what happened?

I looked at the clock. It was still only seven in the morning ship time.

- Why did you jump up at dawn?

- I wanted to look at the tadpoles. After all, no one else on Earth has seen them.

- So what? Is it necessary to wake up the old father for this? You'd better turn on the robot. While he prepares breakfast, we would slowly get up.

- Yes, you wait, dad, with your breakfast! Alice interrupted me impolitely. “I'm telling you, get up and look at the tadpoles.

I jumped out of bed and, without getting dressed, ran into the hold where the aquarium stood. The sight I saw was amazing. The tadpoles, though incredible, had more than doubled in size overnight and no longer fit in the aquarium. Their tails protruded out and hung almost to the floor.

- Can't be! - I said. - It is urgent to prepare the pool.

I ran to Zeleny the mechanic and woke him up:

“Help, the tadpoles have grown so big that I can’t lift them.”

“I warned you,” Zeleny said. - It won't be yet. And why did I agree to work in a traveling zoo? For what?

“I don't know,” I said. - Went.

Zeleny put on a dressing gown and trudged, grumbling, into the hold.

When he saw the tadpoles, he grabbed his beard and groaned:

"Tomorrow they'll take over the whole ship!"

It's good that the pool was pre-filled with water. With the help of the Green, I dragged the tadpoles. They turned out not to be heavy at all, but they pulled out strongly and slipped out of our hands, so that when we lowered the third, last tadpole into the pool, we were out of breath and sweating.

The pool on the Pegasus is not big - four by three meters and two meters deep - but the tadpoles were at ease in it. They began to circle around it, looking for food. No wonder they were hungry - after all, these creatures, apparently, were going to set a record in the Galaxy for the fastest growth.

While I was feeding the tadpoles - it took half of one of the boxes of algae - Poloskov appeared in the hold. He was already washed, shaved and dressed in uniform.

“Alice says your tadpoles have grown,” he said, smiling.

“No, nothing special,” I replied, pretending that such miracles were not unusual for me.

Here Poloskov looked into the pool and gasped.

- Crocodiles! - he said. - Real crocodiles! They can swallow a person.

“Don't be afraid,” I said, “they are herbivores. The scouts would have warned us.

Tadpoles swam near the surface of the water and stuck their hungry mouths out.

“They wanted to eat again,” Zeleny said. “They will take us soon.

By lunchtime, the tadpoles had reached a length of two and a half meters and had finished the first box of algae.

“We could have warned you,” Zeleny grumbled, referring to the scouts. – After all, they knew and thought: let the experts suffer.

- Can't be! - Alice was indignant, to whom the scouts gave a goodbye model of an all-terrain vehicle carved from wood, chess from the bone of a fossil parallelepiped, a knife for cutting paper, carved from the bark of a glass tree, and many more interesting things that they themselves made in long evenings.

“Well, let's see,” Zeleny said philosophically and went to check the engines.

By evening, the length of the tadpoles reached three and a half meters. It was already difficult for them to swim in the pool, and they swayed at the bottom, surfacing, only to grab a bunch of seaweed.

I went to bed with a heavy foreboding that I would not be able to take the tadpoles to the zoo. The first beast turned out to be a lump. Space sometimes makes riddles that are too tough for a simple terrestrial biologist.

I got up before everyone else. I tiptoed down the corridor, remembering the nightmares that had tormented me at night. I dreamed that the tadpoles had become longer than the Pegasus, crawled out, flying alongside us in space and still trying to swallow our ship.

I opened the door to the hold and for a second stood on the threshold, looking around to see if a tadpole would crawl out from around the corner.

But there was silence in the hold. The water in the pool was still. I stepped closer. The shadows of the tadpoles, no more than four meters long, darkened at the bottom. My heart was relieved. I took a mop and swirled it in the water. Why don't tadpoles move?

The mop rested against one of the tadpoles, and he easily swam to the side, pressing his relatives to the far wall of the pool. They didn't move.

“Shut up,” I realized. “And probably from hunger.”

- So what, dad? Alice asked.

I turned around. Alice stood barefoot on the cold plastic, and instead of answering I said:

“Put something on your feet immediately, you’ll catch a cold.”

Just then the door opened and Poloskov entered. Zeleny's fiery beard was visible over his shoulder.

- So what? they asked in unison.

Alice ran off to put on her shoes, and I, not answering my comrades, tried to push the motionless tadpole. His body, as if empty, easily floated around the pool. The eyes were closed.

“They’re dead,” Zeleny said sadly. - And we tried so hard, dragged them yesterday! But I did warn you.

I turned the tadpole over with a mop. It was easy to do. The spotted belly of the tadpole was cut lengthwise.

Only the skins of the monsters floated in the pool, keeping the shape of their bodies, because the hard scales that covered them prevented the skins from shrinking.

- Wow! Zeleny said, looking around. - They hatched.

- Who? Poloskov asked.

- If i knew!

“Listen, Professor Seleznev,” Captain Poloskov addressed me formally, “to all appearances, I suspect that there are unknown monsters on my ship that hid in the so-called tadpoles.

Page 8 of 12

I turned the rest of the tadpoles over with a mop. They were empty too.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly.

“But when you came here, was the door closed or open?”

My head was in turmoil, and I answered:

“I don’t remember, Poloskov. Maybe closed.

- Affairs! Poloskov said and hurried to the exit.

- Where are you going? Green asked.

“Search the ship,” said Poloskov. - And I advise you to inspect the engine room. Just equip yourself with something. It is not known who is hatched from the tadpoles. Maybe dragons.

They left, and a few minutes later Poloskov came back running and brought me a blaster.

“What the hell is wrong,” he said. “I would have locked Alice in the cabin.

- What else was missing! Alice said. - I have a theory.

“And I don’t want to hear your theories,” I said. - Let's go to the cabin.

Alice resisted like a wild cat, but we still locked her in the cabin and began to search the premises.

It's amazing how many holds, compartments, corridors and other rooms are hidden in a relatively small expeditionary ship! The three of us, covering each other, spent three hours until we looked at the entire Pegasus.

There were no monsters anywhere.

- Well, - I said then - let's have breakfast, then we will examine the ship again. They had to go somewhere.

"I'll have breakfast too," said Alice, who had overheard our conversation on the intercom. - Release me from prison.

We released Alice and escorted her to the wardroom under escort.

Before starting breakfast, we locked the door and placed our blasters on the table next to us.

- Miracles! - said Poloskov, taking on the semolina. - Where did they hide? Maybe a reactor? Or got out?

“Sinister miracles,” Zeleny said. “Miracles are not my type. From the very beginning I didn't like the tadpoles. Pass me the coffee pot.

“I'm afraid we'll never solve this riddle,” said Poloskov.

I nodded in agreement with him.

“No, let me,” said Alice.

- Shut up.

- I can not be silent. If you want, I'll find them.

Poloskov laughed, and laughed long and sincerely.

“Three grown men have been looking for them for three hours, and you want to find them alone.

“It’s easier that way,” said Alice. - Guess what I'll find?

“Of course, we argue,” Poloskov laughed. - What do you want?

“At will,” said Alice.

- Agree.

"I'll be the only one looking for them."

“Nothing like that,” I said. “You won’t go anywhere alone. Have you forgotten that the ship may be roaming unknown monsters?

I was angry at the scouts with their dangerous jokes. He is also angry with himself for going to bed and missing the moment when the shells of the tadpoles were empty. Angry at Alice and Poloskov, who started a childish argument at such a serious moment.

“Come on,” said Alice, getting up from the table.

“Drink your tea first,” I replied sternly.

Alice finished her tea and confidently went into the hold, where there was an aquarium. We followed her, feeling like fools. Well, why, tell me, did we listen to her?

Alice quickly looked around the compartment. She asked Poloskov to move the boxes away from the wall. He obeyed with a smile. Then Alice returned to the pool and walked around it. The empty shells of the tadpoles darkened at the bottom. Half-eaten algae floated on the surface of the water.

“Here,” said Alice, “catch them.” Just be careful: they jump.

And then we saw that three frogs were sitting in a row on the algae. Or rather, not quite a frog, but three creatures that are very similar to frogs. Everyone is as tall as a thimble.

We caught them, put them in a jar, and then, repenting of my stubbornness, I asked Alice:

“Listen, daughter, how did you guess?

“It's not the first time you've asked, papa,” she replied, not hiding her pride. - The thing is that you are all adults, smart people. And you think, as you yourself said, logically.

And I'm not very smart and I think how it comes into my head. I thought so: if these are tadpoles, then there must be frogs. And frogs are always smaller than tadpoles. You walked around the ship with pistols and looked for big monsters. And even they were afraid in advance. And I sat locked in the cabin and thought that I probably shouldn't always look up and look for something huge. Maybe look around the corners and look for ma-a-a-lazy frogs. And found.

“But why do frogs need such large containers?” Poloskov was surprised.

"I didn't think of that," Alice admitted. - I didn't think about it. And if I had thought, I would never have found the frogs.

- What do you say, professor? Poloskov asked me.

- What to say? It will be necessary to carefully examine the shells of tadpoles. Probably, they are something like factories that process food into a complex concentrate for the frog ... Or maybe it’s easier for big tadpoles to defend themselves from enemies.

“And don’t forget about the desire, Poloskov,” Alice said sternly.

“I never forget anything,” the captain answered clearly.

Doctor Verkhovtsev's advice

We sent a radiogram from the road to Dr. Verkhovtsev: “We are arriving on Friday. Meet." Verkhovtsev immediately replied that he would be happy to meet us and guide us on his space boat through the dangerous asteroid belt that surrounds the planet of the Three Captains.

At the appointed hour, we pulled up at the asteroid belt. A dense swarm of stone blocks, like clouds, hid the surface of the planet from us. For some reason, we all got excited. It seemed to us that the meeting with Dr. Verkhovtsev would lead to important and interesting events. Maybe even adventure.

The doctor's spaceship flashed through the asteroids like a silver arrow. And here he is rushing in front of us.

Pegasus, can you hear me? A muffled voice rang out over the speaker. - Follow me.

What is he like, I wonder. He must be bored alone on the planet, - said Alice, who was sitting with us on the bridge in a small shock-absorbing chair specially made for her.

Nobody answered her. Poloskov steered the ship, I acted as navigator, but Zeleny was not on the bridge - he remained in the engine room.

The Pegasus changed course, circled around the fanged asteroid, and then obediently slid down.

Beneath us lay the desert, cut in places by gorges and marked by the pockmarks of craters. The silver arrow of the boat flew ahead, pointing the way.

We have dropped significantly. One could already make out rocks and dry rivers. Then a dark green patch of oasis appeared ahead. Above him rose the dome of the base. The doctor's boat went into a turn and sank down onto the level ground. We followed his lead.

When the Pegasus, slightly swaying, stood on the shock absorbers and Poloskov said "good", I saw three stone statues between the greenery of the oasis and our ship.

Three stone captains stood on a high pedestal. Even from a distance it was clear that two of them were people. The third is a three-legged thin Fixian.

"They've arrived," Alice said. - May go out?

“Wait,” I replied. We do not know the composition of the atmosphere and temperature. What suit are you going to wear?

“None,” said Alice.

She pointed to the porthole. A man in a gray casual suit and a gray rumpled hat stepped out of the silver spaceboat. He raised his hand inviting us.

Poloskov turned on the external speaker

Page 9 of 12

and asked:

Is the atmosphere breathable?

The man in the hat nodded quickly - go, don't be afraid!

He met us at the gangway.

“Welcome to the base,” he said and bowed. - I rarely see guests here!

He spoke a little old-fashioned, to match his suit.

He looked to be in his sixties. He was short, thin and looked like a kind old woman. His face was lined with fine lines. The doctor was constantly screwing up his eyes or smiling, and if sometimes his face smoothed out, the wrinkles became white and wide. Dr. Verkhovtsev had long, thin fingers. He shook hands with us and invited us to his place.

We followed the doctor to the green trees of the oasis.

- Why here oxygen atmosphere? I asked. “After all, the planet is a solid desert.

“The atmosphere is artificial,” said the doctor. “It was made when the monuments were being built. In a few years, a large museum dedicated to the heroes of space will be built here. Out-of-date spaceships and all sorts of curiosities from distant planets will be brought here.

The doctor stopped in front of a stone block. It was engraved with the words in cosmic language:

"Here will be built

Main Space Museum»

“You see,” said Verkhovtseff. “The museum will be built together by eighty different planets. In the meantime, for starters, a powerful reactor has been installed in the center of the planet, which releases oxygen from rocks. Right now the air here is not very good, but by the opening of the museum the air will be the best in the entire galaxy.

Meanwhile, we approached the foot of the monument.

The monument was very large, with a twenty-story building. We stopped and, with our heads thrown back, examined the three captains.

The first captain turned out to be young, broad-shouldered, slender. He had a slightly snub nose and broad cheekbones. The captain smiled. On his shoulder sat a strange bird with two beaks and a beautiful crown of stone feathers.

The second captain was taller than him. He had a very wide chest and thin legs, like all people who were born and raised on Mars. The Second's face was sharp and dry.

The third captain, a Phixian in a tight suit with his helmet thrown back, rested his palm on a branch of a stone bush.

“They are not old at all,” said Alice.

“You are right, girl,” Dr. Verkhovtseff answered. They became famous when they were young.

We stepped into the shade of the trees and walked along a wide alley to the base. The base turned out to be a vast room, littered with boxes, containers and devices.

“Exhibits began to be sent to the museum,” the doctor said, as if apologizing. - Follow me to my lair.

- Well, just like the Pegasus at the beginning of our journey! Alice admired.

Indeed, the journey through the base to Dr. Verkhovtsev's residence was like walking through our ship when it was overloaded with parcels, cargo and all kinds of equipment.

A small nook between the containers, littered with books and microfilms, which could barely fit a bunk, also littered with papers and films, turned out to be the bedroom and study of the curator of the museum, Dr. Verkhovtsev.

“Sit down, make yourself at home,” the doctor said.

It was quite clear to all of us, except the owner, that there was nowhere to sit down here. Verkhovtseff brushed a pile of papers onto the floor. The sheets flew up, and Alice began to collect them.

Are you writing a novel? Poloskov asked.

Why romance? Oh yes, of course, the life of the three captains is more interesting than any novel. She deserves to be described as an example for future generations. But I am deprived of a literary gift.

I thought Dr. Verkhovtseff was being modest. After all, he himself flew to the scouts to find the drawings of the ship of one of the captains.

“So,” said the doctor, “what can I do for my dear guests?”

“We were told,” I began, “that you all know about the three captains.

- Well, - Verkhovtseff even blushed with embarrassment - this is an obvious exaggeration!

He laid his hat on a pile of books; the hat tried to slide down, and the doctor caught it and put it back in its old place.

“The captains,” I said, “managed to visit many unknown planets. They met wonderful animals and birds. From them, they say, there were notes, diaries. And we are just looking for unknown animals on other planets. Will you help us?

“Aha, that’s the point…” Verkhovtseff pondered. His hat took advantage of the moment, slid down and disappeared under the bunk. “Ah,” he said, “if I had known in advance…

- Dad, can I tell the doctor? Alice asked.

“Yes, girl,” the doctor turned to her.

- One stone captain has a bird with two beaks and a crown on his head sitting on his shoulder. There is no such bird in the zoo. Maybe you know something about her?

“No,” said Verkhovtseff. “I know almost nothing.

Where is my hat?

“Under the bunk,” said Alice. - I'll get it now.

"Don't worry," said Verkhovtseff, and dived under the bunk. Only his legs stick out from there. He searched there, in the darkness, for a hat, rustled papers and went on talking. “The sculptors were given the latest photographs of the captains. They chose the photos they liked the most.

Maybe they invented this bird? I asked, leaning over to the bed.

- No no! Verkhovtseff exclaimed, and his boots twitched. I have seen these photos myself.

But do you know where they were filmed?

- The First Captain never parted with the bird, - answered Verkhovtseff, - but when he flew to Venus, he gave the bird to the Second Captain. And the Second Captain, as you know, is missing. The bird is gone too.

“So you don’t even know where she lives?”

Verkhovtseff finally crawled out from under the bed. He crumpled his hat in his fist and looked embarrassed.

“Sorry,” he said, “I digress.

“So you don’t know where the bird lives?”

“No, no,” Verkhovtseff answered quickly.

“Pity,” I sighed. - So it's a failure. There is nothing you can do to help us. And we were hoping...

Why can't I? Dr. Verkhovtsev was offended. “I have traveled a lot myself… Let me just think.

The doctor thought for about three minutes, then said:

- I remembered! On the planet Eurydice there is a Small dragon. And yet, they say, Big dragon.

“I know,” I said. “The big dragon was once shot by one of the captains.

– How do you know? asked Verkhovtsev.

- I know. My friend the archaeologist Gromozek told me.

“Strange,” said Verkhovtseff, and tilted his head, examining me as if seeing me for the first time. "Then I'll think about it."

He thought for another minute and informed us about the Martian mantis. It was even funny. Martian praying mantis live not only in all zoos - they are even kept at home. Alice has one living, for example.

Then Verkhovtsev told us about the tadpoles, about the flycatcher from Fix, about the infernal birds from the planet Trul, and about other animals known from the book Animals of Our Galaxy.

No, we don't need these animals.

“Forgive me,” Verkhovtseff said politely, “but all my life I have been interested in rational beings, and somehow I never met animals. May I think?

Verkhovtseff thought again.

– Where have I been? he asked himself. “Yeah,” he replied, “I've been to the Empty Planet.

- On the empty planet. It is not far

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from here in a nearby star system.

“But if this is an empty planet, then what kind of animals are there?” Alice was surprised.

“No one knows. You see, we were there on Monday, the whole sky was full of birds. And on Tuesday, not a single bird - only wolves prowl in packs. And deer. And on Wednesday - neither one nor the other. The planet is empty.

- But maybe the animals just migrated somewhere?

“No,” said Verkhovtseff, “that is not the point. We had a reconnaissance boat, and out of curiosity we circled the entire planet. No animals, no birds. Emptiness. And we weren't the only ones surprised.

I'll give you the coordinates.

“Thank you,” I said. “But if you can’t remember anything else, then show us the captains’ diaries. They must have seen different animals.

Who told you about the diaries? the doctor asked, tilting his head.

“Our friend the archaeologist Gromozeka,” I replied.

- Never heard. And why do you need diaries? I remembered the skliss. About Skliss from the planet Sheshineru. Them there darkness-darkness. I was told.

“Thanks for that too,” I said. But I really wanted to look at the diaries of the captains, but for some reason Dr. Verkhovtseff did not want to show the diaries. Somehow we made him distrustful.

- Please.

What about the diaries? Alice asked.

- Oh, girl, what do you need in these diaries? By the way, they are not here. They are on Fix. Stored in the archive. Yes, in the archive. - And Dr. Verkhovtseff suddenly perked up, as if he had come up with a successful lie.

“Well, as you wish,” said Alice.

The doctor was embarrassed, put his crumpled hat over his eyes and said quietly:

– You can also visit the market in Palaputra.

“We will definitely go there,” I said. - We know about him.

"Then I'll walk you out," said the doctor.

He got up and led us between boxes and containers to the exit from the base. He walked quickly, as if he was afraid that we would change our minds and not fly away.

We returned to the monuments. We stopped near them.

“What happened to the Second Captain?” I asked.

“He died, you know,” Verkhovtseff answered.

We were told that he was missing.

Dr. Verkhovtseff shrugged his narrow shoulders.

“Can you find the First Captain?” I didn't give up. - Is he alive?

– Yes, it works somewhere in space.

- On the Venus project? But there are several thousand people there.

“You yourself know how to look for it. And you won't get anything from me.

“Well,” I said then, “thank you for the welcome. We, however, thought that the meeting would be different.

“I thought so too,” said Verkhovtseff.

“Maybe when you write a novel, send us a copy?”

I don't write novels! I do not know how! Who came up with this?

- I'm talking about the novel for which you flew a month ago to the scouts on the Lesser Arcturus and asked them about the Blue Gull's device.

- What? Dr. Verkhovtseff waved his hands. - What is the "Blue Seagull"? What scouts? I haven't been there in six months!

“Well, well, well,” I said, seeing that the doctor was completely at a loss. We didn't mean to offend you.

"That's it," said Verkhovtseff. - If you fly past, come in, I will always be glad to see you. Especially this charming little girl.

He reached out to pat Alice on the head, but Alice stepped aside and the doctor's hand hung in the air.

“Then don’t forget,” he said, stopping at the monument of the Three Captains. - Sklisses on Sheshineru and the riddle of the Empty Planet.

“Thank you doctor,” I replied. - We won't forget.

The doctor stood for a long time at the feet of the huge stone captains and waved his hat. The golden rays of the setting sun illuminated him, and it seemed that he, too, was a statue, only smaller than the others.

– Ah-ah-ah! Suddenly, we heard a distant cry.

We turned around.

The doctor ran towards us, bogged down in the sand.

- For-would! he shouted. - Completely forgot!

The doctor ran up to us and for about two minutes he tried to catch his breath, all the time he began the same phrase, but there was not enough breath to finish it.

“Ku…” he said. - At pa ...

Alice tried to help him.

- Chicken? she asked.

- No-no ... ku-stiks. I ... forgot to say about the bushes.

- What bushes?

- I stood by these very bushes and forgot to tell about them.

The Doctor pointed to the monument. Even from here, from a distance, it was clear that at the feet of the third captain the sculptor depicted a lush bush, carefully cutting out its branches and leaves from stone.

“And I thought it was just for beauty,” said Alice.

- No, it's a bush! Have you ever heard of bushes?

- Never.

“Then listen. Only two minutes... When the Third Captain was on the eighth moon of Aldebaran, he got lost in the desert. No water, no food, nothing. But the captain knew that if he did not reach the base, the ship would die, because all the crew members lay stricken with space fever, and the vaccine was only at the base, at an empty, abandoned base in the Sierra Barracuda mountains. And so, when the strength left the captain and the path was lost in the sands, he heard a distant singing. At first the captain thought it was a hallucination. But he still collected last strength and went towards the sounds. Three hours later he crawled to the bushes. Bushes grow in those places around small reservoirs, and before a sandstorm their leaves rub against each other, making melodious sounds. It seems that the bushes are singing. In this way, the bushes in the Sierra Barracuda mountains, with their singing, showed the captain the way to the water, made it possible to wait out a terrible sandstorm and saved the lives of eight astronauts who were dying from space fever. In honor of this event, the sculptor depicted a bush on the monument to the Third Captain. So, I think you should look at the eighth satellite of Aldebaran and find bushes in the Sierra Barracuda mountains. In addition, the Third Captain said that in the evening large delicate luminous flowers open on the bushes.

“Thank you doctor,” I said. – We will definitely try to find these bushes and bring them to Earth.

Can they grow in pots? Alice asked.

“Probably,” the doctor replied. “But, to tell the truth, I have never seen bushes - they are very rare. And they are found only at the source in the very center of the desert surrounding the Sierra Barracuda mountains.

The Aldebaran system lay nearby, and we decided to find the bushes and, if possible, listen to their singing.

Eighteen times our spacecraft circled the entire desert, and only on the nineteenth pass did we see greenery in a deep hollow. The reconnaissance boat descended over the sand dunes, and the bushes surrounding the spring appeared before our eyes.

The bushes were low, up to my waist, they had long leaves, silvery from the inside, and rather short, thick roots that easily emerged from the sand. We carefully dug out five bushes, choosing those on which we found buds, filled a large box of sand and transferred our trophies to the Pegasus.

On the same day, Pegasus launched from a desert satellite and headed further.

As soon as the acceleration was over, I began to prepare the camera for shooting, because I hoped that luminous flowers would soon bloom on the bushes, and Alice prepared paper and paints to sketch these flowers.

And at that moment we heard a quiet, harmonious singing.

- What's happened? – the mechanic Zeleny was surprised. I didn't turn on the tape recorder. Who turned on? Why

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won't they let me rest?

- This is our bushes singing! Alice screamed. - Is there a sandstorm coming?

- What? Green was surprised. How can there be a sandstorm in space?

“Let’s go to the bushes, dad,” Alice demanded. - Let's see.

Alice ran into the hold, and I lingered a bit, loading the camera.

"I'm going too," Zeleny the mechanic said. “I have never seen singing bushes.

I suspected that he really wanted to look out the window, because he was afraid that suddenly a sandstorm was really coming.

I had just finished loading the camera when I heard a scream.

I left the camera in the wardroom and quickly ran down to the hold.

- Dad! Alice screamed. - You just look!

- Save! roared Zeleny the mechanic. - They are coming!

A few more steps - and I ran to the door to the hold.

At the door I ran into Alice and Zeleny. Or rather, I ran into Zeleny, who was carrying Alice in his arms. Zeleny looked frightened and his beard fluttered as if from the wind.

Bushes appeared in the doorway. The sight was truly terrible. Bushes crawled out of a box full of sand and, stepping heavily on short, ugly roots, moved towards us. They walked in a semicircle, swaying their branches, the buds opened, and pink flowers burned among the leaves, like sinister eyes.

- To arms! Zeleny shouted and handed Alice to me.

- Shut the door! - I said.

But it was too late. While we were pushing, trying to pass each other, the first of the bushes passed the door, and we had to retreat into the corridor.

One by one, the bushes followed their leader.

Zeleny, pressing all the alarm buttons along the way, ran to the bridge for weapons, and I grabbed a mop standing against the wall and tried to cover Alice. She looked at the advance of the bushes fascinated, like a rabbit at a boa constrictor.

- Yes, run away! I called out to Alice. “I can’t hold them for long!”

Bushes with elastic, strong branches grabbed the mop and pulled it out of my hands. I retreated.

- Hold them, pa! Alice said and ran away.

“Good,” I managed to think, “at least Alice is safe.” My position continued to be dangerous. The bushes tried to drive me into a corner, and I could no longer use a mop.

Why does Green need a flamethrower? - I suddenly heard the voice of Captain Poloskov in the speaker. - What's happened?

“We were attacked by bushes,” I replied. “But don’t give Zeleny a flamethrower. I'll try to lock them in the compartment. As soon as I retreat through the connecting door, I will let you know, and you will immediately close the hold compartment.

- Are you in danger? Poloskov asked.

“No, as long as I hold on,” I replied.

And at the same moment, the bush closest to me pulled hard on the mop and tore it out of my hands. The mop flew off to the far end of the corridor, and the bushes, as if encouraged by the fact that I was unarmed, moved towards me in close formation.

And at that moment I heard quick footsteps from behind.

Where are you going, Alice! I shouted. - Back now! They are strong as lions!

But Alice slipped under my arm and rushed to the bushes.

Something large and shiny was in her hand. I rushed after her, lost my balance and fell. The last thing I saw was Alice, surrounded by the ominous branches of the animated bushes.

- Poloskov! I shouted. - For help!

And at the same moment the singing of the bushes was interrupted. It was replaced by a quiet murmur and sighs.

I got to my feet and saw a peaceful picture. Alice stood in the thick of the bushes and watered them with a watering can. The bushes swayed their branches, trying not to miss a drop of moisture, and sighed blissfully ... When we drove the bushes back into the hold, removed the broken mop and wiped the floor, I asked Alice:

“But how did you guess?

“Nothing special, dad. After all, bushes are plants. So they need to be watered. Like a carrot. But we dug them up, put them in a box, and forgot to water them. When Zeleny grabbed me and tried to save me, I had time to think: after all, they live at home near the water. And the Third Captain found water by their singing. And they sing when a sandstorm approaches, which dries the air and fills the water with sand. So they worry then that they will not have enough water.

"So why didn't you just say so?"

- Would you believe it? You fought them like tigers. You completely forgot that they are the most ordinary bushes that need to be watered.

- Well, the most common ones! grumbled Zeleny the mechanic. - Chasing water along the corridors!

At this point, it was my turn as a biologist to have my say. the last word.

“So these bushes are fighting for existence,” I said. “There is little water in the desert, the springs dry up, and in order to stay alive, the bushes have to roam the sand and look for water.

Since then, the bushes have lived peacefully in a box of sand. Only one of them, the smallest and restless, often crawled out of the box and lay in wait for us in the corridor, rustling branches, humming, begging for water. I asked Alice not to solder the baby - and so the water oozes from the roots - but Alice felt sorry for him and until the very end of the journey she carried him water in a glass. And that would be nothing. But somehow she gave him compote to drink, and now the bush does not give anyone a pass at all. He stomps along the corridors, leaving wet footprints behind him, and stupidly pokes leaves at people's feet.

Reason in it is not a penny. But compote loves to madness.

Mystery of the Empty Planet

- Where to first? Poloskov asked.

He looked at the space map. It laid a course for Palaputra, where the animal market is located. But in the same place, with a dotted line, we outlined a course for the Empty Planet, about which Verkhovtsev spoke.

“We will always get to Palaputra,” I replied. - But the Empty Planet is not listed in any space guide. Maybe take a chance?

“But even Dr. Verkhovtseff himself said that the animals were gone on it. Maybe they're dead and we're just wasting our time?

“And there is little fuel left,” Zeleny intervened in our conversation. “I still have to refuel in Palaputra.

Can you refuel on the Empty Planet? So we will be left without fuel - then wait until someone flies by.

But we did not listen to Zeleny. He's a pessimist.

And we were sure that he would certainly have enough fuel. He just wanted to be safe.

“Nevertheless,” I said, “let’s take a look at the Empty Planet. This is a riddle, and there is nothing more interesting in the world than solving riddles.

And we headed for the Empty Planet.

Unfortunately, two days later it turned out that Dr. Verkhovtsev had not given the exact coordinates. We should have already seen the star around which this planet revolves, and ahead was a void.

What to do? We decided: we fly one more day and if nothing changes, we will turn back.

We decided so in the evening, before dinner, and after that Zeleny went to the radio room to send a radiogram to Earth that everything was in order with us, the flight was going well. I followed Green.

I love to listen when Green turns on the radio and space, so desolate and vast, comes to life. We hear how distant space bases and planets are talking, how ships call to each other and automatic beacons transmit information from uninhabited planets and asteroids about the situation, about the paths of meteor showers.

Page 12 of 12

and pulsating stars.

While Zeleny was preparing the radiogram, I turned the knob of the receiver.

- I'm in sector 16-2, registered an unknown meteor shower flying in the Blook system. In three days, the stream will cross the passenger highway Blok-Fix. Please inform all ships.

“We're right in that sector,” I told Zeleny.

“I heard,” answered Zeleny, who, it turns out, put the radiogram aside and entered the message from the unknown ship into logbook.

"And since this ship is in our sector, let's ask it about the Empty Planet," I told Zeleny. “Perhaps we have lost our course.

Zeleny said that that ship was too far away from us to hear, that our walkie-talkie would probably fail, that the woman who warned about meteors still didn't know anything about the planet, because it didn't exist. Zeleny grumbled, and in the meantime his hands were turning the radio setting and when the unknown ship accepted our call, he said:

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Well, now, - said Poloskov, when we got up from the planet on which we lost our entire supply of pineapples, - a direct move to the Medusa system. Nobody minds?

Nobody objected. I was about to object, but Alice looked at me so that I said:

In flight, the captain is in charge of the ship. As Poloskov says, so be it.

Then we will not linger anywhere else, ”Poloskov said.

But two days later we had to stop and change course.

The Pegasus ship's radio received the SOS distress signal.

Where is he from? I asked Poloskov.

Now we'll find out everything, - said our captain, bending over the receiver.

I sat down in a free chair on the bridge, decided to take a moment to rest. I've been tired since morning. The indicator had a stomach ache and changed colors like a traffic light at a busy intersection. A troglodyte weaver spider, for lack of raw materials, got to a sleepy snook in the next cage and cut off all the long hair from it, so that I did not recognize the snook. Snook caught a cold as a result and coughed all over the hold. I had to build an insulator. The talker muttered all night in an incomprehensible language, hoarse and creaking like an unoiled cart. I had to solder it with hot milk and soda. The bushes quarreled at night over plum pits, and the branches were broken off for the smallest one. The diamond turtle cut a hole in the door leading to the engine room with the sharp edges of its shell, and had to lock it back in the safe.

I was tired, but I knew that it always happens when you carry a collection of rare animals. All these illnesses, troubles, fights and conflicts are nothing compared to feeding.

True, Alice helped me, but she overslept, and I had to take over the morning feeding.

It is also good that there were not very many animals so far and in most of them they could breathe earthly air. Only I had to put a stove under the glass box with beige beetles, because the beetles are used to living in volcanoes...

What is he talking about? Oh yes, I thought about it and completely forgot - after all, we received a distress signal.

The signal comes from Shelezyak's planet. What could happen to them?

Poloskov opened the last volume of the directory of the planets and read aloud:

- “Planet of Shelezyak. Discovered by the Phixian expedition. Inhabited by a metal culture very low level. There is an assumption that the inhabitants of the planet are the descendants of robots who escaped from an unknown spaceship. They are known for their honesty and hospitality. However, they are very capricious and touchy. There are no minerals on the planet. There is no water either. There is no atmosphere. There is nothing on the planet. If anything, the robots have spent everything and live in poverty.” Yes, - said Poloskov, - not a very interesting planet. But what happened to them?

SOS, - continued to repeat the radio. - We have an epidemic. Please help.

We'll have to turn off the path, - Poloskov sighed. You can't leave sentient beings in trouble.

And we turned to Shelezyak's planet.

Only when we saw from space a gray ball of the planet, devoid of air, mountains and oceans, Poloskov was finally able to call the local dispatcher.

What happened to you? - he asked. - How can we help you?

Doctor? Poloskov was surprised. - But you have an iron civilization. Maybe send a mechanic to you?

It is possible and mechanics, - agreed with Shelezyaki. But doctors too.

We descended to a flat, dusty and deserted field of the spaceport. No ship has sunk here in a long time.

When the dust had settled, we lowered the gangplank and brought the all-terrain vehicle out. Poloskov stayed on the ship, while Zeleny, Alice, and I drove to the long, low, boring building of the space station. Not a soul, not a shadow around. If they had not just talked to them, no one would have guessed that there are living beings on the planet. A broken, rusty robotic leg lay on the road. Then a wheel with broken spokes.

It was kind of sad to go through such desolation. I even wanted to shout out loud: “Is anyone alive?”

The doors to the space station were thrown wide open. It was also deserted and quiet inside. We got out of the rover and stopped at the door, not knowing where to go next.

A rustling sound was heard in a large gray speaker suspended from the ceiling, and a now-familiar raspy voice said:

Climb the stairs to the small black door. Push it and it will open.

We obeyed and found a narrow staircase. The stairs were steep and as dusty as the rest. It ended in a small black door. I pushed the door, it didn't budge. Maybe locked up?

Give it to me, - said Zeleny the mechanic.

He pressed the door with his shoulder, hooted, and the door screeched open. Green could not resist and flew inside.

So I thought, - he said gloomily on the fly and crashed into a metal inhabitant of the planet sitting at the table.

The robot was also covered in dust.

Thank you for coming," the robot said, raising his hand to help Zeleny up. - I thought you would not want to fly to us. Not expected. None of us are flying.

But you have a very weak station,” I said. We only heard it because we were flying by. This is pure coincidence.

And once our station was the strongest in the sector, - said the robot.

Then something rumbled in his iron belly, and he froze with his mouth open. The robot waved its hands and silently called for help. I looked perplexedly at Zeleny, who said:

A doctor is not needed here.

He walked up to the robot and punched him under the chin. The mouth slammed shut, and the robot said:

Zeleny had to be rough with the robot once again. At the same time, he said:

I ask you not to open your mouth wide. I can't stand with my fist over you forever.

The robot nodded and continued to speak, only slightly opening its mouth so as not to jam.

I sent an SOS signal, he said, because no one has come to relieve me on duty for two weeks now. I suspect that all my countrymen were paralyzed.

Why do you think so?

Because my own legs were taken away.

And how long have you been struck by such a disease? I asked.

No, not really, - said the robot. - We generally have last years there were interruptions in lubrication, but still we somehow managed. And after one person got angry with us and cursed us with a terrible curse, a terrible, mysterious paralysis began to destroy us from small to large. And here I am, I'm afraid, the last more or less healthy robot on the entire planet. But the paralysis is getting closer to the heart. And, as you can see, even the jaw jams.

Well, let me take a look. Maybe, after all, you forgot to renew the lubricant, Zeleny said suspiciously.

He walked over to the robot and pulled back the lid on its chest, stuck a finger inside, and the robot giggled:

Ticklish!

Be patient, the mechanic said sternly. He checked the hinges on his legs and arms, straightened up and said, wiping his hands with a handkerchief: - There is grease. I don't understand anything!

And we don’t understand anything,” agreed the robot.

We drove to the city. We went into houses - long boring rooms with rows of identical bunks. Identical robots covered with dust lay on the bunk beds. Indicator lamps burned on their foreheads. This meant that the robots were alive. The robots rolled their eyes, but could not move. Finally, without understanding anything, we returned to the space station and put a heavy duty robot into the all-terrain vehicle. At least he was still talking. And we took it to the Pegasus to take it apart there and check what kind of strange epidemic hit the planet.

The robot itself helped us unscrew it, gave advice on which nut to turn, which button to press. The robot was running, dirty, but we could not find any special damage in it. In fact, service robots of this type, long out of production in the Galaxy, were built to last for centuries and were adapted to work in deep space, and in volcanoes, and under water, and underground. Only they had to be lubricated from time to time, but they themselves knew how to do it very well.

Finally, on a large worktable in our laboratory, we laid out the parts of the robot, and put its head separately, in a corner, and connected it to the ship's electrical network.

Well? asked the head of the robot when Zeleny had finished dismantling his body.

Green shrugged.

What to do now? - asked the head quietly. “A whole civilization is dying.

We'll have to send a radio message to Earth or some other big planet, I said. - Let them send a special expedition and specialists in robotic diseases from there.

Well, what diseases can we have! the robot's head exclaimed, and the mouth remained open.

I had to go up and hit him on the chin.

Thank you, said the robot. - But to leave us unattended is a pity. After all, imagine not a single moving creature on the whole planet. The very first downpour or flood will destroy us all irrevocably - after all, we cannot even dry ourselves off.

But listen, I said, we can't stay with you until help comes!

But is it important for you? asked the head of the robot.

I did not have time to answer because Zeleny said:

You never know. I'll try changing the lubricant. Can you lubricate with machine oil?

If the oil is good, then you can, - answered the head of the robot.

And then Zeleny began to wipe all the details and parts of the robot and lubricate them with our oil.

Meanwhile, the robot asked again:

What is your business?

We collect animals for the Moscow Zoo,” I said. - Rare animals. We must complete the expedition as soon as possible and return home. After all, it is very difficult to carry a whole zoo with you.

But if you help us, - said the head of the robot, - we will give you our animals. There are no such places anywhere else.

And what are these animals?

And then the robot said:

Once upon a time, many years ago, an automatic spaceship crashed on this planet, with several universal robots on board. They survived and built themselves a hut from the wreckage of the ship. Then they found deposits of iron and other metals on the planet, found uranium and many other minerals. And then the robots began to build children for themselves, and little by little there were a lot of robots on the planet.

But although robots think, they do not know how to look into the future. In those days, the planet had water and air, grass and trees. But the robots didn't care what was going on around them. They enjoyed complete freedom and soon built many factories on the planet, and all the factories made robots, and new robots built new factories and made new robots. And so it continued until the day when all the oxygen on the planet was used up in furnaces, all the trees were transferred to the sheds for spare parts, all the animals died, all the mountains were razed to the ground and all the seas were used up to cool the engines. Minerals have also run out. Only robots remained on the bare planet - many millions of identical robots, which suddenly had nothing to do.

Then the robots had to cast lots, and those who were unlucky were dismantled for spare parts or exchanged for lubricating oil from passing ships or star vagabonds. This is how the robots lived. Little by little they became less and less, but still on the planet there were still several million idlers. The robots decided to build a spaceship and fly to some still uninhabited planet in order to start all over again, but they could not build the ship, because they did not have blueprints, and they themselves did not know how to invent anything. And so it went on until last day. And then a strange epidemic attacked the robots and they were all paralyzed.

But which animals are you talking about? I asked the robot's head.

About robotic animals. We wanted everything to be like people. And when we realized that the native animals had become extinct because they couldn't live on an empty planet, we made artificial animals. But then we were not up to them, and we decided to disassemble the animals into spare parts for robots. They don't make these now. But the animals sensed the danger and ran away. Until now, they run along the flat valleys of the planet Shelezyak. And if you help us, we will capture some very unusual iron animals for you.

Thank you, - I said to the head of the robot, and I myself thought that such animals are unlikely to be useful to our zoo, every schoolchild on Earth can build a mechanical turtle or an electronic hedgehog.

While we were talking to the robot's head, Zeleny wiped off all of its parts and re-greased them. Then he screwed on the robot's arms and legs and pressed the red button. We all anxiously waited for what would happen. The robot hesitantly raised its hand, then took a step forward. The leg obeyed him. He took another step, waved both arms at once, leaned forward, then back, and began to dance. Never in my life have I seen a dancing robot. He almost knocked over the table, almost crushed my leg, and it even seemed that the robot was laughing with joy.

Having danced enough, the robot shouted:

Save ... - and froze.

After all, they didn’t change the lubricant in his head.

But this time Zeleny the mechanic didn't hit him on the chin with his fist. He simply poured a jar of oil into his open mouth.

The robot choked, something rumbled inside him, his mouth closed, opened again, and the robot sang the song “We are not afraid of the gray wolf” in a musical, sonorous voice, which, apparently, he had overheard a very long time ago.

So, it's all about lubrication, - said the robot, calming down a bit. But it was almost fresh. We changed it.

Zeleny, without saying a word, filled the glass with the old lubricant taken from the robot and went to the microscope.

Everything is clear, - he said after a minute. - I should have guessed from the very beginning. Bacteria have bred in the lubricant, which turn the oil into an emery solution. I wonder how these bacteria could get into your oil?

The robot thought. We all moved together to the wardroom to continue the conversation. The robot was thinking. We poured tea for ourselves, and put a jar of sunflower oil in front of the robot - a big delicacy for robots. The robot absently drank the jar and continued to think.

Suddenly a talker woke up above his head. He saw our guest and, opening his beak wide, sang:

- "We are not afraid of the gray wolf ..."

We were very surprised. Only the robot was not surprised. He raised his head and said to the talker:

Hello bird. How do you feel?

But the talker continued to sing, flapping his wings, because he could not answer anything - talkers are not very smart birds.

Do you know the speaker? Alice asked.

I know, - the robot answered absently. - I repaired it myself.

How could you repair a live bird? Alice was surprised.

A few years ago, - answered the robot, - this bird flew to our planet from outer space. At that time, we already had little air and there were no local animals left at all. But a talker, if you know, doesn't need air. He can fly between planets and not breathe for several weeks and even months. But this talker barely made it to our planet. Someone attacked him on the way and severely injured the bird. We got the talker out, fattening him up with lubricating oil, but he had to cut off one wing and replace it with a prosthesis.

Can't be! I exclaimed. Wouldn't we have noticed?

Look, - the robot answered proudly. - We are very good craftsmen.

I got up and walked over to the speaker. The bird seemed to guess what I needed, and spread its right wing. I felt it. There was metal under the feathers. The robot told the truth.

You see, - said the robot solemnly. - You didn't even notice.

And what happened to the bird then? Alice asked.

She flew to us from the Medusa system, - said the robot. Someone was chasing her and wanted to kill her. While we were repairing the bird, she told us a lot, and we realized that someone had an accident or got into trouble on one of the planets of the Medusa system and the bird was in a hurry to tell a friend of the one who was in trouble about it. We would have helped ourselves, but we didn't have a spaceship.

And you released the bird?

Released, - said the robot. - But we tried to explain to her that she would not reach that sector of the Galaxy, where she was in such a hurry. Although the artificial wing does not differ from the real one, you cannot fly very far on it. But, unfortunately, the bird did not understand us. She is not a very smart bird. But we knew that not far from us was the planet Bluk, the native home of the talkers. And we thought that the talker could fly home. Since then, I have not removed it.

Here you see! Alice told me. - Now you have no doubt that the Second Captain was alive and sent a bird for help?

But four years have passed since then,” I replied. - So he's dead.

But I must tell you, - said the robot, - about a strange event. It happened quite recently. A month ago. Just three days before the start of the epidemic. I wouldn't have remembered him if I hadn't seen the talker... A small black ship descended to our planet. A man in a hat stepped down from it. We thought he wanted to trade extra robots from us, but it turned out that his ship was broken and he needed our help... We gladly helped this man...

It was Dr. Verkhovtseff,” Alice whispered.

And when his ship was ready to fly, we asked him if he would give us lubricating oil or fresh newspapers as a reward for our work. But this man in the hat told us very rudely that we would not get anything. And we should be grateful to him that he left us alive. And then I told him: “Shame on you, stranger! I understand that when we helped a mindless talker bird and fixed its wing, and it gave us nothing in return, there is nothing surprising in this. But you - sentient being and in appearance you come from the Great Earth. Ashamed!" And then he asked: “Which talker did you repair the wing of?” I said that was almost four years ago and was completely irrelevant. But he insisted, and I told him the story of the wounded bird. You should have seen how angry he was! He cursed us for helping this bird, and when he found out that it had flown to the planet Bluk, he began to get ready to return with curses. “We'll have to,” he said, “wasted time on the damned bird. And then it will talk." And at night he was seen at the main tank ...

What kind of tank?

All clear! - said the robot. - It was approaching the main lubricating oil tank! He's a bad person, and he could have planted harmful bacteria in her...

We told the robot that bacteria could have entered the planet in another way, but the robot shook its head and didn’t want to hear about anything.

In parting, we gave the robot a barrel of lubricating oil so that it could fix at least a dozen robots, and promised that as soon as we went into space, we would immediately send a radiogram to the nearest planet so that a ship with oil would be sent to the robots from there.

When the robot left, my friends got excited.

Hurry, - they hurried me, - hurry on the road! We can still save the captain! Now there is no doubt that he is in trouble and Dr. Verkhovtseff is very afraid that someone will find out the truth.

I am generally ashamed of the earthlings, - Zeleny said gloomily. - And until we solve this mystery, I will not be able to look into the eyes of aliens. If such a vile person was found among the inhabitants of the Earth, it is our duty to find and neutralize him. And the Second Captain, whom we will definitely find, will help us with this. And the animals will wait.

I sighed and agreed, because both Alice and Poloskov were in complete agreement with Zeleny.

Okay, I said. - I obey the majority. Although I believe that your hopes are based only on rumors and we will not find any Second Captain in the Medusa system. But as soon as we are convinced that an error has occurred, then we immediately return to the center of the Galaxy and hastily collect animals.

Prepare the ship for departure! Poloskov said in a firm voice. - Green, go down to the engine room. Start super engines.

I went to the porthole to take a last look at the desert planet, which was ruined without thinking about what they were doing, businesslike robots. And then I saw that our familiar robot was running towards the Pegasus across the dusty field. He was carrying something in his hands.

I met the robot at the gangway.

Keep the animals, he said. Just be sure to change the lubricant. So far, they are all paralyzed.

He threw a pile of some metal things at my feet.

Goodbye,” he said, watching me clear the ladder. - If you find this pest in a hat and don't know what to do, give it to us. We'll lubricate it with spoiled grease.

The robot laughed and walked through the dust.

While the ship was accelerating to space speed, I changed the lubrication of the metal beasts. Still, I was curious to see what kind of robotic animals were found on this planet. And when, two hours later, Zeleny looked into the laboratory, he almost fainted from surprise. Animals on wheels ran across the lab floor. They squeaked, fought among themselves and tried to climb the walls. The animals were ugly, but somehow resembled mice and cats. Apparently, when the robots were building them, they remembered real cats and mice.

I put the robotic animals in an iron cage, but sometimes they got out of it and chased the diamond turtle through the corridors.