© Kir Bulychev, usl., 2014

© Bugoslavskaya N.V., illustrations, 2014

© AST Publishing House LLC, 2014

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Chapter 1
The criminal Alice

I promised Alice: “When you finish the second grade, I’ll 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 engage in adventures.

Alice honestly fulfilled the conditions, and it seemed that nothing threatened our plans. But in May, a month before departure, an incident happened that almost ruined everything.

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

- Are you in trouble? I asked.

- Nothing of the kind, - answered Alice. - Why do you think so?

- So it seemed.

Alice thought a little, put the book down and asked:

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

- Do you need a big nugget?

- A kilogram and a half.

- A smaller one?

- Honestly, there is no smaller one. I have no nugget. Why do I need it?

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

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

- Tell me what happened there.

- Nothing special. You just need a nugget.

- And if quite frankly?

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

“Dad, I'm a criminal.

- A criminal?

- I committed a robbery, and now they will probably kick me out of school.

“It's a shame,” 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. One fisherman told us about it, you don't know him.

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

- For spinners.

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

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

“That's not entirely true, Dad. We borrowed it. Leva Zvansky said that his father is a geologist and he will bring a new one.

In the meantime, we decided to make a spinner out of gold. The pike will surely bite on such a spoon.

- The lot fell on you.

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

- And then?

- And then we went to Alyosha Naumov, took a laser and sawed this damn nugget. And we went to the Ikshinskoye reservoir. And the pike bit off our spoon.

- Or maybe not a pike. Maybe a driftwood. The spoon was very heavy. We searched for her and did not find her. We dived in turn.

- And your crime was discovered?

- Yes, because Zvan is a deceiver. He brought a handful of diamonds from home and says that there is not a single piece of gold. We sent him home with the diamonds. We need his diamonds! And then Elena Aleksandrovna comes and says: "Young people, clean up the museum, I will now bring first-graders here on an excursion." There are such unfortunate coincidences! And everything was immediately revealed. She ran to the director. “Danger,” he says (we were listening at the door), “someone's past has awakened in their blood!” Alyoshka Naumov, however, said that he would take all the blame on himself, but I did not agree. If the lot falls, let them execute me. That's all.

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

“I didn't have time,” said Alice. - We were given until tomorrow. Elena said that either tomorrow the nugget will be in place, or a big conversation will take place. This means that tomorrow we will be removed from the competition, and maybe even kicked out of school.

- From what competition?

- Tomorrow we have a race in air bubbles. For the school championship. And our team is from the class - just Alyoshka, me and Egovrov. Egovrov cannot fly alone.

“You forgot another complication,” I said.

- You violated our agreement.

“I did,” Alice agreed. - But I was hoping that the violation was not very strong.

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

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

“Think,” I said, and went back to the office to finish writing the article.

But it was written badly. It turned out to be a very nonsense story. How little kids! Sawed up a museum piece.

An hour later I looked out of the office. Alice was not there. She ran away somewhere. Then I called the Mineralogical Museum Fridman, with 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 one and a half kilograms in your storerooms?

- There are five kilograms. Why do you need this? For work?

- No, you need a house.

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

“I’m 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 you, but Alice. But you will pay me good for good.

- With pleasure.

- Give me sinebars for one day.

- Sinebars. We got mice.

- In the stones?

“I don’t know what they eat, but they’re turned on.” And cats are not afraid. And the mousetrap is ignored. And from the smell and sight of bluebears, mice, as everyone knows, run away as fast as they can.

What was I supposed to do? Cinebars is a rare animal, and I myself will have to go with it to the museum and look there so that the cinebars would not bite anyone.

“Okay,” I said. - Just came the nugget 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 Venusian scout suit, with the insignia of the Sirian system pioneer on his sleeve.

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

- Hello. My surname is Egovrov. Is Alice at home?

- No. Has gone somewhere.

- It's a pity. Can you trust?

- To me? Can.

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

- How is an astronaut with an astronaut?

“Don't laugh,” Egovrov blushed. - In time, I will wear this suit by right.

“I’m sure,” I said. - So what kind of male conversation?

- Alice and I will compete, 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. It's clear?

“I see, a mysterious stranger,” I said.

- Hold on.

He handed me the bag. The bag was heavy.

- A nugget? I asked.

- Do you know?

- Nugget.

“Not stolen, I hope?”

- 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. Two girls showed up outside the door.

“Hello,” they said in unison. “We're first class. Take for Alice.

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

Another nugget was thrown into the mailbox by the hand of an unknown well-wisher. Then Leva Zvansky came and tried to hand me a small box with diamonds. Then one 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. It looked about six or seven kilograms.

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

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

- 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.

“What have my friends got to do with it?”

- 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 undue modesty.

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

“It's from me,” I said.

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

“It turns out like this,” I replied. - But I ask you not to be arrogant.

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 her bag at the school entrance, I said:

- I completely forgot about the punishment.

- About what?

“You’ll have to take a cinebar from the zoo on Sunday and go with it to the Mineralogical Museum.

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

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

- Agreed, - said Alice. - But we still fly on an expedition.

Chapter 2
Forty three hares

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

First, 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 for catching 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, umbrellas from the sun and rain, lemonade, raincoats, panamas, dry ice cream, auto flights and a million other things that you may or may not need on an expedition. Thirdly, since we will descend along the road at scientific bases, stations and different planets, we must take cargo and parcels with us: oranges for astronomers on Mars, herring in jars for scouts of Little Arcturus, cherry juice, ink and rubber glue for archaeologists in the 2-BC system, brocade robes 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?" Until the last minute, we were brought 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 looked like Noah's Ark, like a floating fair, a Universam store, and even a warehouse in a trading base.

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

Since the Pegasus is a small vessel, the crew on it is also small. On Earth and other planets, I am the leader of the expedition, Professor Seleznev from the Moscow Zoo. The fact that I am a professor does not at all mean that I am already an old, gray-haired and important person. It so happened that since childhood I love all kinds of animals and have never changed them for stones, stamps, radios and other interesting things. When I was ten years old, I came to the circle of young naturalists at the zoo, then graduated from high school and went to the university to study as a biologist.

And while he was studying, 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 was able to write my first book about them. At that time, there were still no high-speed ships that fly to any end 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 unbeknownst to myself became a professor.

When "Pegasus" breaks away from solid ground, Gennady Poloskov, the famous cosmonaut and the commander of the ship, becomes the master on it and the chief commander over all of us. We met with him before, on distant planets and scientific bases. He often visits our home and is especially friendly with Alice. Poloskov does not at all look like a brave astronaut, and when he takes off the uniform of a starship captain, he can be mistaken for a kindergarten teacher 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 hardly managed to persuade him to fly captain in the Pegasus, because Jack O'Coniola tried to persuade 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 tall man with a lush red beard. He is a good mechanic and flew five times with Poloskov on other ships. The main pleasure for him 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 disassembled at the very moment when they are really needed. And Zeleny is also a big pessimist. He thinks that "this" will not end well. What is it"? Yes all. For example, he read in some old book that a 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 let go of his beard just in case. When we get to an unknown planet, he immediately advises us to fly away from here, because there are still no animals here, and if there are, then those that the zoo does not need, and if necessary, then we still do not take them to Earth, and so Further. But we are all accustomed to Green and do not pay attention to his grumbling. And he does not take offense at us.

The fourth member of our crew, apart from the kitchen robot that always breaks down and the ATVs, was Alice. She, as you know, is my daughter, graduated from 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 look after animals and is almost not afraid of anything.

The night before my 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 were tied fins and a spearfishing harpoon. The morning was cold, chilly and crisp. The meteorologists promised to rain in the afternoon, but, as always, they were a little mistaken, and their rain poured out at night. The streets were empty, we said goodbye to our relatives and promised to write letters from all planets.

The aircraft slowly climbed over the street and flew easily to the west, to the cosmodrome. I handed control to Alice, and I myself took out long lists, corrected and crossed out a thousand times, and began to study them, because Captain Poloskov vowed to me that if we did not throw out 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 cosmodrome. Alice was focused and seemed to be thinking about something. She was so distracted that she lowered the plane at a strange ship that was loading piglets on Venus.

At the sight of the car descending from the sky, the pigs burst in different directions, the robots accompanying them rushed to catch the fugitives, and the loading supervisor scolded me for trusting the landing of a small child.

“She’s not so small,” I replied to the chief. - She finished the second grade.

“All the more embarrassing,” said the chief, clutching the newly caught pig to his chest. - We will not collect them until evening!

I looked at Alice reproachfully, took the steering wheel and drove the car to the white Pegasus. "Pegasus" in the days of its naval youth was a high-speed mail ship. Then, when ships appeared faster and more capacious, "Pegasus" was remade for expeditions. It had roomy holds, and it has already served both geologists and archaeologists, and now it is useful 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?

“I came up with something,” I said.

- Tell me!

At that moment, a modest grandmother in a blue shawl came up to us and asked:

- You will not take with you a little parcel for my son to Aldebaran?

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

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

We had no idea.

- 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 stereo film, which depicts how his son, and my granddaughter is learning to walk.

“Bring me,” Poloskov said gloomily.

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

- Listen, - I said to Poloskov, - we will ferry part of the cargo to the Moon on a regular ship. And from the moon it will be easier to start.

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

- Where to send the parcel? - asked the grandmother.

“The robot will take it at the entrance,” Poloskov said, and we began to check with him what to unload to the moon.

Out of the corner of my eye I looked where Alice had gone, and therefore I drew attention to my grandmother with the parcel. Grandmother stood in the shadow of the ship and quietly argued with the robot loader. A heavily overloaded carriage towered behind my grandmother.

- Poloskov, - I said, - pay attention.

- Oh, - said the brave captain. - I will not survive this!

With a tiger's leap, he jumped to his grandmother.

- Parcel, - said the grandmother timidly.

- Cake?

- Cake. - The grandmother has already recovered from the fright.

- So big?

“Sorry, Captain,” Grandma said sternly. - Do you want my son to eat the cake I sent alone, 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 do not fly anywhere. It's clear? I'm not flying anywhere!

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

I met Alice in the far passage of the cargo hold and was very surprised to meet.

- What are you doing here? I asked.

Alice hid a bundle of bagels behind her back and replied:

- Getting to know the ship.

Finally, at twelve o'clock, we finished the 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 ascend into space.

Poloskov called Zeleny the mechanic over the intercom. The mechanic was sitting at the control panel, combing his red beard. Poloskov leaned over to the videophone screen itself and asked:

- Can we start?

“At any moment,” Zeleny said. “I don’t like the weather, though.

“The control room,” Poloskov said into the microphone. - "Pegasus" asks for takeoff.

“One minute,” the dispatcher replied. - You have no free space?

“None,” Poloskov said firmly. - We don't take passengers.

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

- What for? Are there really no scheduled ships?

- Everyone is overwhelmed.

- Why?

- Don't you know? On the moon today, a football match for the Galactic Sector Cup: Earth - Planet Fix.

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

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

- So we will beat them? Poloskov asked.

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

- I would have your worries, - said Poloskov. - When do you take off?

- And yet we will win, - intervened in the conversation Alice, who imperceptibly entered the bridge.

- That's right, girl, - the dispatcher was delighted. - Maybe take the fans? To send everyone, I need eight ships. I have no idea what to do. And all applications are received.

- No, - Poloskov snapped.

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

Poloskov switched to the engine room.

“Green,” he said, “include planetary ones. Only little by little. Let's check if there is an overload.

- Where does the overload come from? - I was indignant. - We've counted everything.

The ship trembled slightly, gaining power.

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

The ship shuddered and remained in place.

- What's happened? Poloskov asked.

- What happened to you? - asked the dispatcher who watched our launch.

“It’s not going,” Zeleny said. - I told you: nothing good will come of it.

Alice sat, strapped to a chair, and did not look in my direction.

- Let's try again, - said Poloskov.

“Don't try,” Zeleny answered. - Significant overload. I have instruments in front of my eyes.

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

- We have some errors in the calculations.

“No, we checked on a counting machine,” I replied. - We have a reserve of two hundred kilograms.

- But what happens then?

- We'll have to throw the cargo overboard. We have no time to waste. What hold do we start with?

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

"Not from the first," said Alice suddenly.

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

- Only 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, “there has been a complaint against you.

- What is the complaint?

- I turn on the information desk.

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

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

- It's a shame all the same. You can't indulge in pranks like that.

- What pranks? - I was surprised.

- I told Alyosha: you are not flying to the moon, you have five triples in the fourth quarter.

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

“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 we have a lot of "hares" on board?

“I didn't think we were overloaded,” said Alice. - The guys couldn't miss the match of the century! What happens - I'll see, but they don't?

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

- Our class and two parallel ones, - said Alice quietly. - While dad slept at night, we flew to the cosmodrome and climbed onto the ship.

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

- Dad, I won't! - Alice begged. - But understand, I have a strong sense of duty!

“We could have crashed because of your sense of duty,” Poloskov replied.

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

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

There were forty-three people in total on the Pegasus. I still do not understand how Alice managed to place them on board, and we will not notice any of them.

- Happy, 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.

“I’m not talking about that,” said Alice. - After all, the third "B" flew away in full force at night in sacks of potatoes on a cargo barge. They will be at the stadium, but our second classes will not. I have not lived up to the confidence of my comrades.

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

The famous science fiction writer Kir Bulychev (1934-2003) came up with a wonderful heroine - Alisa Selezneva, a girl from the XXI century. The book "Alice's Journey" includes stories about the space travel 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 story. Thanks to the Pegasus team and, first of all, Alice, they managed to save two famous heroes from the trouble. The illustrations for the book were made by the talented artist Nadezhda Bugoslavskaya, who created a very nice image of Alice. The book is addressed to children of secondary school age. The book was also published under the titles "Girl from Earth", "Alice and the Three Captains" and "The Mystery of the Third Planet". [i] Publisher's design saved in pdf A4 format.

A series: Alisa Selezneva (illustrated edition)

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company liters.

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

- A-ah-ah! - Suddenly a distant cry came to us.

We turned around.

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

- For-would-sir! He shouted. - I completely forgot!

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

- Ku ... - he said. - Pa ...

Alice tried to help him.

- Hen? She asked.

- No-no ... ku-ustiki. 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 sawing its branches and leaves from the stone.

- I thought it was just for beauty, - said Alice.

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

- Never.

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

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

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

Eighteen times our spaceboat circled the entire desert, and only on the nineteenth call did we see greenery in a deep hollow. The scout dropped over the sand dunes, and the bushes surrounding the spring appeared to our eyes.

The bushes were short, waist-deep, they had long leaves, silvery from the inside, and rather short, thick roots that easily came out of the sand. We carefully dug out five bushes, selecting those on which we found the buds, collected sand in a large box and transferred our trophies to the Pegasus.

On the same day, "Pegasus" took off from a desert satellite and headed further.

As soon as the acceleration ended, I began to prepare the camera for filming, because I hoped that glowing 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, euphonic singing.

- What? - the mechanic Zeleny was surprised. - I did not turn on the tape recorder. Who turned it on? Why won't they let me rest?

- It's our bushes singing! - shouted Alice. - Sandstorm coming?

- What? Zeleny was surprised. - Where can there be a sandstorm in space?

- Let's go to the bushes, Dad, - demanded Alice. - Let's see.

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

- I'll go too, - said the mechanic Zeleny. - I've never seen the singing bushes.

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

As soon as I finished loading the camera, I heard a scream.

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

- Dad! - shouted Alice. - Just look!

- Save! - the mechanic Zeleny was noisy. - 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. 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, in fact, 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 ominous eyes.

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

- Slam the door! - I said.

But it was too late. While we were pushing, trying to miss 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 a weapon, and I grabbed a mop standing against the wall and tried to cover Alice. She watched the approach of the bushes with fascination, like a rabbit on a boa constrictor.

- Yes, run! - I shouted to Alice. - I can't hold them back for a long time!

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

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

“It's good,” I managed to think, “that at least Alice is safe.” My position continued to be precarious. The bushes tried to drive me into a corner, and I could no longer act with a mop.

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

“Bushes attacked us,” I replied. - But don't give Zeleny the flamethrower. I'll try to lock them in the compartment. As soon as I step back 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'm holding on,” I replied.

And at the same moment, the bush nearest to me strongly pulled the mop and pulled 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 steps from behind.

- Where are you going, Alice! I shouted. - Now go back! They are strong as lions!

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

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

- Polosov! I shouted. - For help!

And at the same second, 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 midst of the bushes and watered them from a watering can. The bushes swayed with 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. When Zeleny grabbed me and tried to save me, I had time to think: after all, they live at their home right next to the water. And the Third Captain, by their singing, found water. And they sing when a sandstorm approaches, which dries the air and fills the water with sand. So they are worried then that they will not have enough water.

- So why didn't you say right away?

- Would you believe it? You fought with them as with tigers. You have completely forgotten that they are the most ordinary bushes that need to be watered.

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

It was then my turn as a biologist to have my last word.

“This is how 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 wander through 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 most restless, often got out of the box and lay in wait for us in the corridor, rustling with 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 trip carried him water in a glass. And that would be nothing. But somehow she gave him a drink of compote, and now the bush does not give anyone a passage at all. He stomps along the corridors, leaving wet footprints behind him, and stupidly pokes the leaves at the feet of people.

Reason in him is not a dime. But compote loves to madness.

* * *

The given introductory fragment of the book Alice's Journey (Kir Bulychev, 1974) provided by our book partner -

Alice's journey Kir Bulychev

(estimates: 1 , the average: 5,00 out of 5)

Title: Alice's Journey

About the book "Alice's Journey" Kir Bulychev

Kir Bulychev is known for his series of books about the brave and inquisitive girl Alice, who is not only open to everything new and unknown, but also seeks to help the whole environment.

The book of the science fiction writer “Alice's Journey” sends the reader together with the young heroine to the outlandish space of the cosmic galaxy towards new discoveries and adventures.

The plot of this story is known from the cartoon "The Mystery of the Third Planet". This book was also published under the same name, but in a more abbreviated version, more like a script for animation. Therefore, we recommend that you read the full and rich version of this masterpiece entitled “Alice's Journey”.

The plot of the work revolves around the flight of Alisa Selezneva, her scientist father, mechanic Zeleny and the captain of the ship Polozkov on a scientific expedition in order to find rare animals to replenish the collection of the Moscow Zoo. But space travel turns into an exciting adventure full of dangers, mysterious phenomena and secrets to be revealed to the brave crew. From the first pages of the story, the reader is immersed in the wonderful world of the Galaxy: unusual planets and their local inhabitants, unusual forms of the existence of matter and living conditions in Space for us people.However, even outside our Earth, Kir Bulychev did not change his literary principles. On all its planets, they are guided by moral norms: good is always stronger, and evil must be punished.

There are many characters in the book "Alice's Journey". Each character is very colorful, all heroes have a role to play in this unusual story. Among the variety of fantastic animals, space inhabitants, pirates and other creatures, the young reader immediately notices pronounced positive and negative qualities. The image of the main character deserves special attention. Alice is an ordinary earthly second-grader girl who has both merits and demerits. Starting to read the work, you are faced with an unpleasant situation - the theft of Alice, due to which the space flight of the crew almost fell through. In addition, this girl is a little spoiled and very stubborn, but Kir Bulychev did not try to create the perfect child. Alice is a collective image of all children - naive and self-righteous, making mistakes, but still boldly going towards the unknown.

Alice's Journey is an eventful book. It is somewhat reminiscent of a quest: the main characters travel from planet to planet and, according to the found clues, continue their investigations. Among the events of this tale are the search for the Second and Third Captains, the release of captives, the fight against space pirates and many other unexpected turns. As if spellbound, you follow the space crew and don't want these adventures to ever end.

On our website about books lifeinbooks.net you can download for free without registration or read the online book "Alice's Journey" by Kir Bulychev in epub, fb2, txt, rtf, pdf formats for iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, find out the biography of your favorite authors. For novice writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary skill.

One of the most famous books by Kir Bulychev is "Alice's Travel". A cartoon called "The Mystery of the Third Planet" was filmed based on it. The main character of the book is an ordinary girl who is very fond of various adventures, enjoys exploring the world and strives towards the unknown. Of course, she is characterized by childish stubbornness and some self-confidence, but which of the children in childhood did not think that they knew everything better than adults? Moreover, the author did not try to make an ideal child, Alice embodies the characters of many children.

Now Alice has finished the second grade and wants to go on a trip with her father. He promised that he would take her with him, and together they would search for rare alien animals if the girl behaved well. And although Alice did not cope with the task - she lost a very valuable gold nugget and tried to secretly take the whole class with her on a space trip - her father forgave the girl. Friends stood up for her, because she did it out of good intentions.

The spaceship embarks on a journey. On the planet of the Three Captains, they visit the museum and find new amazing animals for their zoo. On the Empty Planet, they will encounter other extraordinary creatures. The journey suddenly turns into a dangerous adventure, as there are criminals not far from the heroes. The ship's crew will have to visit planets where time travel is possible, where thoughts can come to life. The ship will be trapped, but Alice will be able to escape and rescue him. In general, space travel will bring a lot of different emotions, it will definitely not be boring! ..

On our website you can download the book "Alice's Journey" by Kir Bulychev for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read the book online or buy a book in the online store.

Kir Bulychev, "Alice's Journey"

Genre: fantastic fairy tale

The main characters of the story "Alice's Journey" and their characteristics

1. Alisa Selezneva. She graduated from the second grade. She is a smart and kind girl, decisive and quick-witted. Never backs down and always finds a way out of any situation
2. Professor Seleznev, Alice's dad, is just a biologist who is most interested in a different life
3. Green, a mechanic, a great pessimist.
4. Poloskov Gennady, captain, decisive and at the same time gentle and kind
5. Veselchak U, the fattest pirate in the world. Outwardly harmless, but cunning and cruel.
6. Rats. The most brutal insect pirate
7. First captain, Vsevolod. Worked on Venus, rushed to help friends
8. Second captain. Martian. He was in captivity for four years.
9. Third captain. Flexian. Died in captivity
10. Verkhovtsev. Doctor and director of the museum. A very decent person.
11. Talker. The bird is smart, but does not always say everything that is needed.

1. Alice, together with her dad, goes on the Pegasus ship in search of rare animals
2. "Pegasus" visits the planet of captains, but Doctor Verkhovtsev behaves strangely and mysteriously.
3. Travelers find the last Blabberyap, who is on the hunt
4. The Talker guides the travelers into the Medusa system, but they save the robots along the way.
5. On the third planet of the system, travelers are trapped by pirates, but find a second captain.
6. Alice and the first captain free the prisoners and go to Earth together.

What the story "Alice's Journey" teaches
This tale teaches honesty and kindness. Teaches you to be brave, resourceful, responsive. teaches to help other people and animals. Teaches you to love nature. Teaches friendship and loyalty. Teaches mutual assistance. teaches that in the future humanity will forget what money and wars are.

Review of the story "Alice's Journey"
This is a wonderful and very interesting story about the girl Alice. I really like the heroine of this story, because she is smart and beautiful, she is brave and decisive. she knows how to find a way out in any situation and is never discouraged. And also because Alice believes in miracles that do happen.
In this story there are exotic animals, there is a detective secret, there are space pirates and there is a true friendship. The story keeps the reader in suspense from the first to the last minutes.

Proverbs to the story "Alice's Journey"
It's good that ends well.
Do not dig a hole for another, you yourself will fall into it.
The quieter you go, the further you'll get.

Read a summary, a short retelling of the story "Alice's Journey" by chapters
Chapter 1. The criminal Alice.
Alice walks sad and dad asks her what is the matter. Alice asks her dad for a gold nugget. It turns out that she and the guys from the class decided to catch a giant pike with a golden spoon and took a nugget from the school museum. But the pike bit off the spoon.
And now Alice urgently needs to return the nugget to the museum before she was kicked out of school.
Dad says that he does not have a nugget, and when Alice leaves, he calls a friend and asks to get a nugget.
At this time, Alice's friends and acquaintances come in turn, and everyone brings gold, coins and even diamonds.
Finally, Alice returns, who also took out the nugget.
Chapter 2. Forty-three hares
Seleznyov is loading Pegasus, whose crew consists of four people - his, Poloskov. Green and Alice.
There are many boxes and gifts to be loaded, which the earthlings give to their relatives and friends. At the end, grandma comes and wants to send a huge cake.
Finally, all the cargo was distributed, there was a reserve of 200 kilograms and the Pegasus was trying to take off.
The astronauts decide to throw some of the cargo out of the holds, but Alice is against it. Suddenly Seleznyov learns that Pegasus has received a complaint that he is trying to take the children to the moon.
It turned out that Alice hid her entire 3A class in the holds of the ship.
Seleznev and Zeleny have unloaded 43 hares.
Alice was upset that her class would not make it to the match of the century, and 3B would, because she was flying on a cargo barge in sacks of potatoes
Chapter 3. Have you heard of the three captains?
On the moon, Alice ran to a football match, and Professor Seleznev met his friend, Gromozeka from the planet Chumaroz, at a restaurant. Learning that Seleznev is looking for rare animals, Gromozeka advises him to visit the planet of captains, where they are going to create a museum of three captains.
He reminds Seleznev of the exploits of the captains and says that currently the First Captain is working on Venus, which is being dragged closer to Earth, the Second has died, and the Third has not yet returned from a neighboring galaxy.
Alice comes and announces the victory of the earthlings. Gromozeka rejoices at the girl and picks her up. Green rushes to save Alice and is suspended from the chandelier.
Chapter 4. The tadpoles are gone
"Pegasus" flies to the scouts of Little Arthur and the scouts arrange a solemn meeting for the travelers. And upon learning about the search for animals, they give Seleznev two tadpoles, one meter long reptiles, which must be kept in the pool.
By morning, the tadpoles had doubled, and by the evening of the next day they had grown to three and a half meters.
The next morning, Seleznev cautiously approached the pool, but the pool turns out to be empty. Only the old discarded bodies of tadpoles floated in the water.
The cosmonauts began to search the ship, but the hatched tadpoles were not found. Finally, Alice took pity on the adults and offered to find the tadpoles.
She led everyone to the pool and showed three small frogs, which had become huge tadpoles.
Chapter 5. Advice of Doctor Verkhovtsev
"Pegasus" flew to the planet of captains and the expedition was cordially greeted by Doctor Verkhovtsev, the curator of the museum. He showed the astronauts a statue of captains - an Earthman, a Martian and a Fixian. A bird sits on the shoulder of one of the captains.
Seleznev tells Verkhovtsev that they are looking for rare animals and would like to get acquainted with the captains' diaries. And Alice directly says that she would like to catch the bird that is shown on the captain's shoulder.
Verkhovtseff is frightened and crawls under the sofa for a hat. From there he says that there are no diaries and that he cannot help. Then Verkhovtsev remembers different planets and their inhabitants and finally talks about the Empty Planet with its mysterious life and talks about Skliss.
Chapter 6. Bushes
At the last moment, Verkhovtsev recalls the bushes and tells the astronauts an interesting story. How the Third Astronaut got lost in the sands of a distant planet and went to strange sounds. It turned out that the bushes, a local form of life, were singing. The bushes showed the captain the water and saved his life.
The expedition went to the eighth satellite of Aldebaran.
They quickly found the bushes and took three plants with them.
Already in flight Zeleny heard singing - it was the bushes singing. And then the bushes appeared in the doorway and went to the frightened people. Professor Seleznyov armed himself with a mop and tried to drive the bushes back into the hold.
Zeleny ran for a flamethrower, and Alice asked her dad to hold back the bushes a little.
When the bushes pulled the mop out of Seleznev's hands, Alice returned and immediately dived into the bushes. The bushes instantly calmed down, and Seleznyov saw that Alice was just watering them.
The bushes were just thirsty, and they sang whenever they were thirsty.
Chapter 7. The riddle of the empty planet
"Pegasus" flies to the Empty Planet and cannot find it at the specified coordinates. Therefore, the astronauts contact another ship, and the woman astronaut informs them that they are flying correctly, and Doctor Verkhovtsev is a wonderful old man. She also says that there are many fish on the Empty Planet, but no animals, and that she is looking for a living nebula.
"Pegasus" landed on the Empty Planet and Zeleny immediately set off to fish. He quickly caught a whole bucket.
The next morning, Seleznev saw that the skies of the planet were teeming with birds. Zeleny went fishing, but there was not a single living creature in the sea. At that time, a strong wind rose and the birds also disappeared. But small animals, like hares, jumped on the grass. Then it turned out that the steppe is simply teeming with animals.
It started to rain soon. Seleznyov and Alice went to the steppe to catch animals, but the bioseeker showed that there were no animals around.
The astronauts were at a loss, but Alice solved the planet's riddle. She ran with a bucket to the lake, scooped up water and brought a fish in the bucket. It turned out that when it rains, the inhabitants of the planet turn into fish, when the sun shines - into birds, and when the wind blows - into animals.
Chapter 8. What the ushans have told
Pegasus arrives on the planet Blook, where the bazaar is held. On the planet lived long-eared eels - intelligent creatures who had three large ears. The long-eared guards told the astronauts a sad story.
It turned out that recently a man began to sell white worms, which all animal owners were happy to buy. But it turned out that the worms multiply at a tremendous speed and soon most of the planet was buried under a layer of worms. The problem was solved by the merchant Krabakas, who let gobirds go on the worms and ate all the worms.
Therefore, now all ships from Earth were strictly inspected, because the merchant with worms was an earthling. The guards showed the photos to the cosmonauts and they recognized Doctor Verkhovtsev.
And then the ushans remembered that they had exterminated all the talkers.

Chapter 9. We need a Blabberyap
Seleznev and Alisa are looking for a present for people and notice the silhouette of Doctor Verkhovtsev in the windows of the third floor. They hurry to get up, but find an empty room. And a fat smiling man in a black suit appears, informs them that the guest has left.
The bazaar on the planet was striking in size and abundance of different life forms. Sometimes it was difficult to know who was selling whom. So, Professor Seleznev was mistaken and asked how much the bird costs, when it turned out that it was the bird that was selling the globular.
Alice is interested in invisible fish in the aquarium, but Seleznev does not believe that there is something there. He sticks his hand into the aquarium and chatters in the air. The merchant bursts into tears, because the professor scared away all his airy invisible fish, ruined him. Alice reproaches her father for callousness. At parting, the merchant gives Alice an invisibility hat.
At this time, a strange creature with thin legs, constantly changing color, rushes under the feet of travelers. This is an indicator that changes colors depending on emotions.
He is caught by a two-headed snake, which is outraged that Seleznyov is selling his own daughter, then outraged that Alice is trading with her father, and finally gives the indicator to Alice.
Alice sees a canary in a cage carried by long-eared ears. But the long-eared people say that they wanted to buy a talker, but only there were no more of them left. Someone killed all the talkers and Alice says they need a talker.
Chapter 10. We bought the Blabberyap
Nobody can sell talkers to cosmonauts. Krabakas says that these birds do not just talk, they can fly between the stars. Behind the boxes hides a long-eared bat, which brought the talker to the market. Alice recognizes the bird that sat on the captain's shoulder.
Ushan says that someone is pursuing him and seeks to steal the talker or even kill him. He points to Doctor Verkhovtsev.
Seleznev and Alisa buy Govorun and carry him across the square. Everyone around is surprised, and the talker in Russian says phrases that he heard from the Captains.
An old acquaintance fat man comes out to meet Seleznev and demands to sell or give the talker. Seleznyov already wants to contact the police, but the fat man is hiding.
Then Doctor Verkhovtsev appears to Seleznev and puts his hand in his pocket. He is armed.
Seleznev calls for help from Poloskov. At this time, numerous stamp collectors are shown and Verkhovtsev retreats.
Chapter 11. Course towards the Medusa system
On the ship, the cosmonauts decide that the talker is the same one that the Captains had. A fat man comes and gives them a diamond turtle, telling them that his name is Veselchak U.
The Blabberyap suggests heading for the Medusa system.
Seleznev decides to fly to the Medusa system, but first fly to Sheshineru and look at the sliss. At this time, the turtle tries to escape, and the astronauts lock it in a safe.
Chapter 12 - such a sad invention
"Pegasus" arrives at the planet Sheshiner and in the refrigerator Seleznyov finds a green man eating pineapple. Next, the second, then the third green man appears and everyone takes pineapples. Seleznyov calls Poloskov, but the refrigerator is already empty and the pineapples are gone.
Alice asks to forgive the little green men, in whom she recognizes the inhabitants of the planet.
"Pegasus" sits on the planet and is greeted by a crowd with banners, everyone greets Alice.
An elderly green man said that once upon a time pills were invented on the planet, which made it possible to travel in time. This led to disaster. Everyone began to return to the past in order to experience pleasant moments, and no one was interested in the present.
The little man disappeared and returned with a pineapple that he had taken from the Pegasus refrigerator yesterday. He said that everyone on the planet thanks Alice for interceding for them yesterday.
Then Seleznev asked about the Skliss, but the little man said that they would give them up anyway and disappeared.
Seleznyov saw a cow that took off and flew to the other side of the street. He asked the green boy whose skliss it was. The boy replied that there was nobody, and Seleznyov took the skliss on the Pegasus.
Chapter 13. Paralyzed robots
On the way to Medusa's system, Pegasus receives a distress signal from the planet Shelezyaka, inhabited by robots. The traveler sits down and finds one barely alive robot. The robot says that there is an epidemic on the planet.
Zeleny began to dig into the robot, but found nothing, so he decided to change his lubricant. The robot, having learned that the expedition is looking for animals, offers them robot animals, but Seleznev believes that he does not need such animals.
After changing the lubricant, the robot wakes up. Green says that bacteria have settled in the grease, which turns it into rust.
The robot recognizes the talker and greets him. It turns out that the wounded talker received help on the planet - robots replaced his wing with a prosthesis.
And then a man in a hat flew in and swore terribly when he learned that the robots had helped the talker. And then he was seen at the lubricant tank. It was again Doctor Verkhovtsev.
At parting, the robot presented the travelers with several small robotic animals, which immediately began to chase the diamond turtle down the corridor.
Chapter 14. Chasing Lady Winter
Pegasus lands on the deserted second planet of the Medusa system and Blabberyap warns to beware of mirages.
Then Seleznyov sees two men and one woman on the field. Alice immediately recognizes them - they are Porthos, D "Artagnan and Lady Winter. It was about them that she read in the evening.
Travelers understand that these are mirages. They see birches, grass, then themselves, Doctor Verkhovtsev, who turns out to be familiar with Veselchak, and finally Kapitanov.
Professor Seleznev takes pebbles from the surface and brings them to Pegasus. He introduces the crew to the inhabitants of the planet who can create mirages. A mirage of the Second Captain appears in the cabin, and the Blabberyap says that it is necessary to look for him on the third planet.
Chapter 15. Croc bird chick
On the third planet there were many forests and various animals, huge birds were flying in the sky. Poloskov sends a scout on the flight, but he falls silent very quickly, and Poloskov flies on a boat to look for him.
Seleznyov sees Alice following the talker to the forest and suddenly a croc bird grabs her.
He calls for help and Poloskov hurries to him. They fly on a boat to the mountains where the croc bird nest is located.
There they see many nests and in one of them they notice Alice. The bird tries to feed the girl with fish, she takes Alice for her chick.
Seleznev and Poloskov take Alice away, and she shows them a plaque found in the nest with the inscription "Blue Gull".
Chapter 16. Mirror Flowers
Seleznev and Alisa walk for a long time through the forest after Govorun. And now they find themselves in a clearing overgrown with flowers-mirrors. Alice looks at her reflection. Then Poloskov checks the clearing with a metal detector, but finds no traces of the Blue Gull.
The astronauts pick flowers and carry the bouquet to the Pegasus.
Green looks like a flower, but it reflects not him, but Alice.
At this time, the Talker knocks outside with its beak. They launch him and he says in the voice of the second captain: "There is no more strength to hold on. Will help come soon?"
Chapter 17. We look into the past
Travelers look into flowers and see that everything in them is moving the other way around. They realize that they are seeing a record of events that happened in the past.
Suddenly they see Verkhovtsev and Veselchak. Those are arguing about something, and behind them is the silhouette of a spaceship.
Seleznyov and Alice fly to the clearing, but the search will not be crowned with success. They return and Zeleny suggests cutting off the mirror layer from the flower to see what happened in the past. Gradually cutting off layer by layer, they notice that a huge hatch occupies the entire clearing.
At this time, the indicator pushes Zeleny under the arm and the mirror breaks.
The astronauts go to the wardroom to take another flower and see that all the flowers are broken, and the Talker bird has disappeared.

Chapter 18. Spy
Poloskov flew around the planet at that time and did not find anything. Seleznyov checked the ship's hatch and found it open. He notices a talker pushing a diamond turtle on the ground.
Seleznyov takes the turtle in his arms and returns it to the ship. He and Green do not understand who could have opened the hatch, but then Zeleny sees the key to the hatch in the turtle's beak.
He takes the turtle and examines it. Then he pries off the shell and it opens. The turtle turns out to be a cunning robot. The turtle turned out to be a spy and the astronauts understand that Verkhovtsev and Veselchak wanted to get the key to the ship in order to capture it.
Chapter 19. Where is the girl?
Poloskov decides to overtake the Pegasus to the mirrored meadow. Here another ship sits down and Verkhovtsev runs out of it, he waves his hand to the astronauts. Poloskov starts rapidly.
Alice says that Verkhovtsev was hatless.
"Pegasus" sits down on a mirrored glade, where there are broken mirrors everywhere, and suddenly falls through.
During the emergency landing, no one was hurt and the travelers decide to find out where they fell. They exit the ship and explore the cave. Around the stone and darkness. But in the beams of flashlights, they see the silhouette of a spaceship nearby. This is the Blue Seagull.
Suddenly, a bright light flashes and the command sounds to drop the weapon and not move. Four pirates are approaching from both sides, among them Verkhovtsev in a hat and Veselchak.
Travelers find themselves surrounded.
The pirates put handcuffs on the astronauts, but suddenly notice that Alice is not around. The girl disappeared.
Chapter 20. In captivity.
Alice is nowhere to be found, and the black man finds the Blabberyap in the ship and goes down the ladder. Verkhovtsev orders to break the Talker's neck, but the black man suddenly falls and releases the bird. The talker flies away swiftly.
Veselchak turns to the Second Captain and demands that he leave the ship. He threatens to kill the professor and his companions.
The captain addresses Professor Seleznev.
He says that the Third Captain, who flew to another galaxy, returned from there with the formula of the galaxy, universal fuel, and asked the Second Captain to meet him here. The third captain was very ill.
But the pirates intercepted this message and set a trap. They also hunted the galaxy. The pirates captured the Third Captain and must have killed him.
The pirates are about to kill Professor Seleznev and the Second Captain is about to leave.
He jumps out of the ship and fires his blaster, but the pirates surround him, and Veselchak raises a knife over Seleznev's throat.
And suddenly the command to drop the weapon sounds. Doctor Verkhovtseff without a hat, the First Captain and even Alice are walking on both sides.
Chapter 21. And at this time ..
Alice, while still on the Pegasus, discovered that the invisible hat really existed, and when pirates attacked them, she decided to use it. She put on her hat and disappeared.
She tripped the pirate and he released the Blabberyap. Then Alice ran down the corridors after the Talker, and in some cell heard a faint groan. Then Blabberyap brought her to the surface.
And there she sees a spaceship and Doctor Verkhovtsev. But next to the doctor, the First Captain and Blabberyap happily sit on his shoulder.
Alice tries to warn the Captain that Verkhovtsev is a traitor, but the Captain dismisses these accusations. Verkhovtsev was with him all the time, and in the underground there was someone else who only pretended to be Verkhovtsev.
Then Alice takes off her invisibility cap and meets the First Captain.
They rush to help their comrades in trouble.
Chapter 22. The Fat Man Lies
The pirates surrender and Verkhovtsev steps on his double. He tugs at the zipper and reveals a terrible insect under the person's appearance. The merry fellow shouts that this is the main pirate, the Rat. The rat pierces itself with its own sting and pretends to be dead.
But Veselchak says that the Rat is simply unconscious. Then they decide to put him in a cage.
Veselchak says that he is an honest pirate and is bargaining to discover the secret of the trap. But the captains do not conduct any negotiations with him.
The first captain tells how he and Verkhovtsev were looking for both the Pegasus and the Second Captain.
Finally Veselchak opens the trap and everyone is going to leave. And then Alice remembers the groan she heard.
Chapter 23. Prisoner in the dungeon
In the cage, the astronauts find the slightly alive Third Captain. He is completely bad, but he is happy with his friends. And at that moment he dies. Seleznyov cuts his chest and begins to directly massage his heart. Finally my heart began to beat.
The third captain is given reinforcing injections and taken out into the fresh air. His life is out of danger. Everyone is happy that the three captains are together again and again soon will surf the vastness of space.
Chapter 24. End of the journey.
When the Third Captain has recovered a little, everyone begins to prepare for the return trip. And at this moment another ship appears.
The pilot of the ship refuses to help and the First Captain recognizes his wife Ella by his voice. It turns out that she still caught her living nebula and now the main thing is not to lower it.
Together, the nebula is planted on the ground and Veselchak immediately hides in it.
While Ella and Seva, as the name of the First Captain turns out, are sorting out the relationship, Veselchak suddenly rushes to run. But the bird Croc catches him and carries him away.
However, Veselchak turns so that the bird drops him, and Veselchak falls somewhere behind the stones.
And the nebula escapes safely and is caught a second time only near the planet Shelezyak.
Then the nebula is taken to Earth, where it is placed on the Moon in a crater.
All say goodbye and wish each other the best.
The captains promise Alice to take her to another galaxy when the girl grows up, and she promises to take her dad with her.

Drawings and illustrations for the story "Alice's Journey"