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- Герберт Уеллс
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- Первые люди на Луне
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There
is
,
therefore
,
a
constant
eastward
breeze
in
the
air
of
the
outer
galleries
,
and
an
upflow
during
the
lunar
day
up
the
shafts
,
complicated
,
of
course
,
very
greatly
by
the
varying
shape
of
the
galleries
,
and
the
ingenious
contrivances
of
the
Selenite
mind
...
The
messages
of
Cavor
from
the
sixth
up
to
the
sixteenth
are
for
the
most
part
so
much
broken
,
and
they
abound
so
in
repetitions
,
that
they
scarcely
form
a
consecutive
narrative
.
They
will
be
given
in
full
,
of
course
,
in
the
scientific
report
,
but
here
it
will
be
far
more
convenient
to
continue
simply
to
abstract
and
quote
as
in
the
former
chapter
.
We
have
subjected
every
word
to
a
keen
critical
scrutiny
,
and
my
own
brief
memories
and
impressions
of
lunar
things
have
been
of
inestimable
help
in
interpreting
what
would
otherwise
have
been
impenetrably
dark
.
And
,
naturally
,
as
living
beings
,
our
interest
centres
far
more
upon
the
strange
community
of
lunar
insects
in
which
he
was
living
,
it
would
seem
,
as
an
honoured
guest
than
upon
the
mere
physical
condition
of
their
world
.
I
have
already
made
it
clear
,
I
think
,
that
the
Selenites
I
saw
resembled
man
in
maintaining
the
erect
attitude
,
and
in
having
four
limbs
,
and
I
have
compared
the
general
appearance
of
their
heads
and
the
jointing
of
their
limbs
to
that
of
insects
.
I
have
mentioned
,
too
,
the
peculiar
consequence
of
the
smaller
gravitation
of
the
moon
on
their
fragile
slightness
.
Cavor
confirms
me
upon
all
these
points
.
He
calls
them
"
animals
,
"
though
of
course
they
fall
under
no
division
of
the
classification
of
earthly
creatures
,
and
he
points
out
"
the
insect
type
of
anatomy
had
,
fortunately
for
men
,
never
exceeded
a
relatively
very
small
size
on
earth
.
"
The
largest
terrestrial
insects
,
living
or
extinct
,
do
not
,
as
a
matter
of
fact
,
measure
six
inches
in
length
;
"
but
here
,
against
the
lesser
gravitation
of
the
moon
,
a
creature
certainly
as
much
an
insect
as
vertebrate
seems
to
have
been
able
to
attain
to
human
and
ultra-human
dimensions
.
"
He
does
not
mention
the
ant
,
but
throughout
his
allusions
the
ant
is
continually
being
brought
before
my
mind
,
in
its
sleepless
activity
,
in
its
intelligence
and
social
organisation
,
in
its
structure
,
and
more
particularly
in
the
fact
that
it
displays
,
in
addition
to
the
two
forms
,
the
male
and
the
female
form
,
that
almost
all
other
animals
possess
,
a
number
of
other
sexless
creatures
,
workers
,
soldiers
,
and
the
like
,
differing
from
one
another
in
structure
,
character
,
power
,
and
use
,
and
yet
all
members
of
the
same
species
.
For
these
Selenites
,
also
,
have
a
great
variety
of
forms
.
Of
course
,
they
are
not
only
colossally
greater
in
size
than
ants
,
but
also
,
in
Cavor
's
opinion
at
least
,
in
intelligence
,
morality
,
and
social
wisdom
are
they
colossally
greater
than
men
.
And
instead
of
the
four
or
five
different
forms
of
ant
that
are
found
,
there
are
almost
innumerably
different
forms
of
Selenite
.
I
had
endeavoured
to
indicate
the
very
considerable
difference
observable
in
such
Selenites
of
the
outer
crust
as
I
happened
to
encounter
;
the
differences
in
size
and
proportions
were
certainly
as
wide
as
the
differences
between
the
most
widely
separated
races
of
men
.
But
such
differences
as
I
saw
fade
absolutely
to
nothing
in
comparison
with
the
huge
distinctions
of
which
Cavor
tells
.
It
would
seem
the
exterior
Selenites
I
saw
were
,
indeed
,
mostly
engaged
in
kindred
occupations
--
mooncalf
herds
,
butchers
,
fleshers
,
and
the
like
.
But
within
the
moon
,
practically
unsuspected
by
me
,
there
are
,
it
seems
,
a
number
of
other
sorts
of
Selenite
,
differing
in
size
,
differing
in
the
relative
size
of
part
to
part
,
differing
in
power
and
appearance
,
and
yet
not
different
species
of
creatures
,
but
only
different
forms
of
one
species
,
and
retaining
through
all
their
variations
a
certain
common
likeness
that
marks
their
specific
unity
.
The
moon
is
,
indeed
,
a
sort
of
vast
ant-hill
,
only
,
instead
of
there
being
only
four
or
five
sorts
of
ant
,
there
are
many
hundred
different
sorts
of
Selenite
,
and
almost
every
gradation
between
one
sort
and
another
.
It
would
seem
the
discovery
came
upon
Cavor
very
speedily
.
I
infer
rather
than
learn
from
his
narrative
that
he
was
captured
by
the
mooncalf
herds
under
the
direction
of
these
other
Selenites
who
"
have
larger
brain
cases
(
heads
?
)
and
very
much
shorter
legs
.
"
Finding
he
would
not
walk
even
under
the
goad
,
they
carried
him
into
darkness
,
crossed
a
narrow
,
plank-like
bridge
that
may
have
been
the
identical
bridge
I
had
refused
,
and
put
him
down
in
something
that
must
have
seemed
at
first
to
be
some
sort
of
lift
.
This
was
the
balloon
--
it
had
certainly
been
absolutely
invisible
to
us
in
the
darkness
--
and
what
had
seemed
to
me
a
mere
plank-walking
into
the
void
was
really
,
no
doubt
,
the
passage
of
the
gangway
.
In
this
he
descended
towards
constantly
more
luminous
caverns
of
the
moon
.
At
first
they
descended
in
silence
--
save
for
the
twitterings
of
the
Selenites
--
and
then
into
a
stir
of
windy
movement
.
In
a
little
while
the
profound
blackness
had
made
his
eyes
so
sensitive
that
he
began
to
see
more
and
more
of
the
things
about
him
,
and
at
last
the
vague
took
shape
.
"
Conceive
an
enormous
cylindrical
space
,
"
says
Cavor
,
in
his
seventh
message
,
"
a
quarter
of
a
mile
across
,
perhaps
;
very
dimly
lit
at
first
and
then
brighter
,
with
big
platforms
twisting
down
its
sides
in
a
spiral
that
vanishes
at
last
below
in
a
blue
profundity
;
and
lit
even
more
brightly
--
one
could
not
tell
how
or
why
.
Think
of
the
well
of
the
very
largest
spiral
staircase
or
lift-shaft
that
you
have
ever
looked
down
,
and
magnify
that
by
a
hundred
.
Imagine
it
at
twilight
seen
through
blue
glass
.
Imagine
yourself
looking
down
that
;
only
imagine
also
that
you
feel
extraordinarily
light
,
and
have
got
rid
of
any
giddy
feeling
you
might
have
on
earth
,
and
you
will
have
the
first
conditions
of
my
impression
.
Round
this
enormous
shaft
imagine
a
broad
gallery
running
in
a
much
steeper
spiral
than
would
be
credible
on
earth
,
and
forming
a
steep
road
protected
from
the
gulf
only
by
a
little
parapet
that
vanishes
at
last
in
perspective
a
couple
of
miles
below
.
"
Looking
up
,
I
saw
the
very
fellow
of
the
downward
vision
;
it
had
,
of
course
,
the
effect
of
looking
into
a
very
steep
cone
.
A
wind
was
blowing
down
the
shaft
,
and
far
above
I
fancy
I
heard
,
growing
fainter
and
fainter
,
the
bellowing
of
the
mooncalves
that
were
being
driven
down
again
from
their
evening
pasturage
on
the
exterior
.
