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- Герберт Уеллс
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- Стр. 143/157
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And
up
and
down
the
spiral
galleries
were
scattered
numerous
moon
people
,
pallid
,
faintly
luminous
beings
,
regarding
our
appearance
or
busied
on
unknown
errands
.
"
Either
I
fancied
it
or
a
flake
of
snow
came
drifting
down
on
the
icy
breeze
.
And
then
,
falling
like
a
snowflake
,
a
little
figure
,
a
little
man-insect
,
clinging
to
a
parachute
,
drove
down
very
swiftly
towards
the
central
places
of
the
moon
.
"
The
big-headed
Selenite
sitting
beside
me
,
seeing
me
move
my
head
with
the
gesture
of
one
who
saw
,
pointed
with
his
trunk-like
'
hand
'
and
indicated
a
sort
of
jetty
coming
into
sight
very
far
below
:
a
little
landing-stage
,
as
it
were
,
hanging
into
the
void
.
As
it
swept
up
towards
us
our
pace
diminished
very
rapidly
,
and
in
a
few
moments
,
as
it
seemed
,
we
were
abreast
of
it
,
and
at
rest
.
A
mooring-rope
was
flung
and
grasped
,
and
I
found
myself
pulled
down
to
a
level
with
a
great
crowd
of
Selenites
,
who
jostled
to
see
me
.
"
It
was
an
incredible
crowd
.
Suddenly
and
violently
there
was
forced
upon
my
attention
the
vast
amount
of
difference
there
is
amongst
these
beings
of
the
moon
.
"
Indeed
,
there
seemed
not
two
alike
in
all
that
jostling
multitude
.
They
differed
in
shape
,
they
differed
in
size
,
they
rang
all
the
horrible
changes
on
the
theme
of
Selenite
form
!
Some
bulged
and
overhung
,
some
ran
about
among
the
feet
of
their
fellows
.
All
of
them
had
a
grotesque
and
disquieting
suggestion
of
an
insect
that
has
somehow
contrived
to
mock
humanity
;
but
all
seemed
to
present
an
incredible
exaggeration
of
some
particular
feature
:
one
had
a
vast
right
fore-limb
,
an
enormous
antennal
arm
,
as
it
were
;
one
seemed
all
leg
,
poised
,
as
it
were
,
on
stilts
;
another
protruded
the
edge
of
his
face
mask
into
a
nose-like
organ
that
made
him
startlingly
human
until
one
saw
his
expressionless
gaping
mouth
.
The
strange
and
(
except
for
the
want
of
mandibles
and
palps
)
most
insect-like
head
of
the
mooncalf-minders
underwent
,
indeed
,
the
most
incredible
transformations
:
here
it
was
broad
and
low
,
here
high
and
narrow
;
here
its
leathery
brow
was
drawn
out
into
horns
and
strange
features
;
here
it
was
whiskered
and
divided
,
and
there
with
a
grotesquely
human
profile
.
One
distortion
was
particularly
conspicuous
.
There
were
several
brain
cases
distended
like
bladders
to
a
huge
size
,
with
the
face
mask
reduced
to
quite
small
proportions
.
There
were
several
amazing
forms
,
with
heads
reduced
to
microscopic
proportions
and
blobby
bodies
;
and
fantastic
,
flimsy
things
that
existed
,
it
would
seem
,
only
as
a
basis
for
vast
,
trumpet-like
protrusions
of
the
lower
part
of
the
mask
.
And
oddest
of
all
,
as
it
seemed
to
me
for
the
moment
,
two
or
three
of
these
weird
inhabitants
of
a
subterranean
world
,
a
world
sheltered
by
innumerable
miles
of
rock
from
sun
or
rain
,
carried
umbrellas
in
their
tentaculate
hands
--
real
terrestrial
looking
umbrellas
!
And
then
I
thought
of
the
parachutist
I
had
watched
descend
.
"
These
moon
people
behaved
exactly
as
a
human
crowd
might
have
done
in
similar
circumstances
:
they
jostled
and
thrust
one
another
,
they
shoved
one
another
aside
,
they
even
clambered
upon
one
another
to
get
a
glimpse
of
me
.
Every
moment
they
increased
in
numbers
,
and
pressed
more
urgently
upon
the
discs
of
my
ushers
"
--
Cavor
does
not
explain
what
he
means
by
this
--
"
every
moment
fresh
shapes
emerged
from
the
shadows
and
forced
themselves
upon
my
astounded
attention
.
And
presently
I
was
signed
and
helped
into
a
sort
of
litter
,
and
lifted
up
on
the
shoulders
of
strong-armed
bearers
,
and
so
borne
through
the
twilight
over
this
seething
multitude
towards
the
apartments
that
were
provided
for
me
in
the
moon
.
All
about
me
were
eyes
,
faces
,
masks
,
a
leathery
noise
like
the
rustling
of
beetle
wings
,
and
a
great
bleating
and
cricket-like
twittering
of
Selenite
voices
.
"
We
gather
he
was
taken
to
a
"
hexagonal
apartment
,
"
and
there
for
a
space
he
was
confined
.
Afterwards
he
was
given
a
much
more
considerable
liberty
;
indeed
,
almost
as
much
freedom
as
one
has
in
a
civilised
town
on
earth
.
And
it
would
appear
that
the
mysterious
being
who
is
the
ruler
and
master
of
the
moon
appointed
two
Selenites
"
with
large
heads
"
to
guard
and
study
him
,
and
to
establish
whatever
mental
communications
were
possible
with
him
.
And
,
amazing
and
incredible
as
it
may
seem
,
these
two
creatures
,
these
fantastic
men
insects
,
these
beings
of
other
world
,
were
presently
communicating
with
Cavor
by
means
of
terrestrial
speech
.
Cavor
speaks
of
them
as
Phi-oo
and
Tsi-puff
.
Phi-oo
,
he
says
,
was
about
5
feet
high
;
he
had
small
slender
legs
about
18
inches
long
,
and
slight
feet
of
the
common
lunar
pattern
.
On
these
balanced
a
little
body
,
throbbing
with
the
pulsations
of
his
heart
.
He
had
long
,
soft
,
many-jointed
arms
ending
in
a
tentacled
grip
,
and
his
neck
was
many-jointed
in
the
usual
way
,
but
exceptionally
short
and
thick
.
His
head
,
says
Cavor
--
apparently
alluding
to
some
previous
description
that
has
gone
astray
in
space
--
"
is
of
the
common
lunar
type
,
but
strangely
modified
.
The
mouth
has
the
usual
expressionless
gape
,
but
it
is
unusually
small
and
pointing
downward
,
and
the
mask
is
reduced
to
the
size
of
a
large
flat
nose-flap
.
On
either
side
are
the
little
eyes
.
