Poloskov let down the ladder and stepped down. He stamped his heels on the floor and turned back to us, saying:
“It’s stone. We can walk on it.”
We followed after him. While Poloskov made a circuit of the ship, looking for any damage the landing gear may have sustained, I aimed my flash light upward for several times. I soon found what I had been looking for, a thin line that ran along the ceiling, in a circle, marking the edge of the stone pit. Yes, Poloskov had been right; the roof had opened the moment we st down on it, letting the ship fall inside.
With the light of the flash caster in front of me I circled the ship in the other direction. It was dark as well here. I turned the flash caster on to its highest intensity and the light seemed to reflect off something in the darkness.
“I’m heading a little in this direction.” I said loudly so Poloskov could hear me. “There’s something over here.”
“Wait, Papa, I’ll go with you.” Alice said.
“Just don’t wander off too far.” Poloskov added.
Alice ran toward me. She was carrying a large flash light.
We went about twenty more steps, flashing the light ahead of us, and then realized that there was another space ship in the pit. When we got close enough Alice read its name aloud:
“‘The Blue Gull.’“
“Poloskov!” I called; the walls cast back my voice, strengthened it and turned it to thunder as though I were in a bottle. “Poloskov! Zeleny! We’ve found the Second Captain!”
I heard dull steps Poloskov and Zeleny running towards us. The bright white points of their flash lights jerking up and down as they ran.
“Where?”
The starship “Blue Gull” rose over our heads. It was dulled with dust that had covered it for many years. It looked dead, abandoned and bereft of human beings. A large lock had been placed on the airlock.
“So, now we known what happened to him.” I said.
“He fell into this pit.” Poloskov said. “Evidently the Second Captain could not get out.”
“We won’t be able to either.” Zeleny said gloomily. “We’ll have to end out days in this pit I told you we should have gone for help. I warned…”
“Don’t panic.” Poloskov said firmly. “We’re going to get out of this. And for starters I propose we board the Blue Gull. Now that we’ve found it we might as well go all the way.”
“The airlock’s closed and there’s no ladder.” I said.
And suddenly over our heads the ceiling burst into bright light, so bright we were all forced to close our eyes, and when I opened by eyes I was noted that an enormous net was dropping over us. A second later we were tangled in it like birds.
And when we tried to free ourselves, floundering and getting in each other’s ways, a loud voice bellowed down from a speaker:
“Don’t move an inch! You’re our prisoners!”
Shielding my eyes from the bright light with my palm I looked to the side from where the voice had come. The fat man named Veselchak U was walking towards us on the even shining floor of the enormous cave; with him came Doctor Verkhovtseff, again dressed in his hat. Both men held pistol pointed at us in their hands.
From the other side approached two more men in black leather uniforms.
“Throw down your weapons.” The fat man ordered. “Well, who am I talking to?”
“Do what he says.” I whispered to Poloskov. Only Poloskov had a pistol with him.
Poloskov pulled the pistol from his holster and threw it on the floor. The pistol clattered loudly.
The net rose.
For several seconds, until our enemies arrived, I was able to look around. The trap into which our Pegasus had fallen was an enormous if low cage. Two ships occupied it, standing some distance apart, the Pegasus and the Blue Gull. We were flies trapped in the blinding floodlights on the floor of the enormous room between them.
I looked around for my friends. Poloskov was looking at our approaching enemies and his mouth closed into a fine line. Zeleny clenched his fists and stood so as to guard Alice’s back. Alice held close to me; on the other side the Empathicator, yellow from terror, huddled at my feet.
“So the birds have flown right into our trap.” Veselchak U said. “Most good.”
He was in a rather jovial mood, but Doctor Verkhovtseff, who had managed to change out of his space suit and even put his had back on his head, appeared distanced, his face immmoible like a mask, his eyes empty and lifeless.
Alice moved about two steps from me.
“Where are you going?” I asked
“I’m here.” Alice whispered.
Two men in black uniforms aimed their guns at us while Verkkhovtseff obeyed the fat man and came directly to us and grabbed the Captain’s pistol. Then he quickly searched us, running cold hands down our sides and pulling out our pockets.
“All in order.” He said quietly. “They have no more weapons.”
“And where could they get weapons?” Fat Man burst out laughing. “They’re butterfly collectors. And they didn’t even guess they were about to fall into our little trap. Just like this one did.” Veselchak U pointed a finger as thick as three fat sausages at the Blue Gull. “And you fell into our trap on your own! We didn’t even have to send out a false message!” He burst into loud laughter. Then he ordered: “Tie them up!”
Evidently the handcuffs had been prepared earlier. One of the men in black opened a shoulder back and pulled out a pack of shiny new handcuffs.
While he untied the pairs of handcuffs the fat man walked directly in front of me, poked me with a fat finger, and said:
“Well, you still don’t want to surrender the Blabberyap Bird, do you, Professor?”
“No.” I replied.
“Look at him!” The fat man turned toward Verkhovtseff. “He’s worried about the Blabberyap bird as if it were an old friend. Where is the bird now?”
“I don’t know.” I said, although I certainly knew the Blabberyap bird had remained on board the ship.
Evidently the Blabberyap was needed by Fat Man after all. He told Verkhovtseff:
“Go take a look at the Pegasus.”
Then he turned back to me and added:
“You will be punished for telling me an untruth, Professor. And very painfully. My aids can do it. But not now, no, not now. Put the handcuffs on them. Don’t trust a word he says.”
A man in a black uniform walked over to me and placed handcuffs on my wrists. They clicked into place. My hands were now bound.
“The next one.” Veselchak U ordered.
His assistant went over to Poloskov. His movements were so precise and he moved so exactly and methodically that I began to suspect he might be a robot.
“The next one.” The Fat Man said.
The handcuffs rattled on Zeleny’s wrists.
The assistant leaned over the Empathicator and stopped in indecision. The Empathicator had ten legs, and all were so think there was nowhere to put the handcuffs.
“Idiot!” The fat man said. “Put them on the girl!” He looked around. “Where is that darned girl?”
Alice was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter Twenty
In Captivity center
“Where is that unmentionable little girl?” Veselchak U pouted, an the smile vanished from his face, and it was odd to see how his short, fat hands moved and fussed separately from the rest of his body.
“What little girl?” One of the black uniforms asked.
“There was a little girl here!” The fat man answered. “They called her…. Oh what did they call her?” He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a note pad and sounded the letters aloud: “A-L–Ice. Where is Al-ice?” The second time he spoke he was looking at me.
“What Al Ice?” I asked as calmly as possible. At the same time I would have liked to have struck myself in the head in bewilderment how had she managed to get away? We were standing right in the open; there was no where she could have hidden herself.