Nikolay Nosov
Dunno on the Moon
Chapter first
How Znayka defeated Professor Zvezdochkin
Two and a half years have passed since Dunno traveled to the Sunny City. Although for you and me this is not so much, but for little runts, two and a half years is a very long time. Having listened to the stories of Dunno, Knopochka and Pachkuli Pestrenky, many shorties also made a trip to the Sunny City, and when they returned, they decided to make some improvements at home. Flower City has changed since then so much that it is now unrecognizable. Many new, large and very beautiful houses appeared in it. According to the design of the architect Vertibutylkin, even two revolving buildings were built on Kolokolchikov Street. One is five-story, tower-type, with a spiral descent and a swimming pool around (by going down the spiral descent, one could dive straight into the water), the other is six-story, with swinging balconies, a parachute tower and a ferris wheel on the roof. A lot of cars, spiral vehicles, tube planes, aerohydromotos, tracked all-terrain vehicles and other various vehicles appeared on the streets.
And that's not all, of course. Residents of the Sunny City learned that the short guys from the Flower City were engaged in construction, and came to their aid: they helped them build several so-called industrial enterprises. According to the design of the engineer Klyopka, a large clothing factory was built, which produced a wide variety of clothes, from rubber bras to winter fur coats made of synthetic fiber. Now no one had to slog with a needle to sew the most ordinary trousers or jacket. At the factory, everything was done for short machines. Finished products, as in Sunny City, were distributed to stores, and there everyone took what they needed. All the concerns of the factory workers boiled down to coming up with new styles of clothes and making sure that nothing was produced that the public did not like.
Everyone was very pleased. The only one who suffered in this case was Donut. When Donut saw that he could now buy any thing he might need from the store, he began to wonder why he needed all that pile of suits that had accumulated in his home. All these costumes were also out of fashion, and they could not be worn anyway. Choosing a darker night, Donut tied his old suits in a huge knot, secretly took them out of the house and drowned them in the Cucumber River, and instead of them he got himself new suits from the stores. It ended up that his room turned into some kind of warehouse for ready-made clothes. The suits were in his closet, on the closet, on the table, under the table, on bookshelves, hanging on the walls, on the backs of chairs and even under the ceiling, on strings.
Such an abundance of woolen products in the house infested moths, and to prevent them from gnawing the suits, Donut had to poison them daily with mothballs, from which there was such a strong smell in the room that the unusual little man was knocked off his feet. The donut itself smelled of this stupefying smell, but he got so used to it that he even stopped noticing it. For others, however, the smell was very noticeable. As soon as Donut came to visit someone, the owners immediately began to feel dizzy from stupor. The donut was immediately driven away and all the windows and doors were quickly opened wide to ventilate the room, otherwise you could faint or go crazy. For the same reason, Donut didn’t even have the opportunity to play with the shorties in the yard. As soon as he went out into the yard, everyone around them began to spit and, holding their noses with their hands, rushed to run away from him in different directions without looking back. Nobody wanted to hang out with him. Needless to say, this was terribly offensive for Donut, and he had to take all the costumes he didn’t need to the attic.
However, that was not the main thing. The main thing was that Znayka also visited the Sunny City. There he met the little scientists Fuchsia and Herring, who at that time were preparing their second flight to the Moon. Znayka also got involved in the work of building a space rocket and, when the rocket was ready, made an interplanetary journey with Fuchsia and Herring. Having arrived on the Moon, our brave travelers examined one of the small lunar craters in the area of the lunar Sea of Clarity, visited the cave that was located in the center of this crater, and made observations of changes in gravity. On the Moon, as is known, gravity is much less than on Earth, and therefore observations of changes in gravity are of great scientific importance. Having spent about four hours on the moon. Znayka and his companions were forced to quickly set off on the return journey, since their air supplies were running out. Everyone knows that there is no air on the Moon and, in order not to suffocate, you should always take a supply of air with you. In a condensed form, of course.
Returning to Flower City, Znayka talked a lot about his journey. His stories were of great interest to everyone, and especially to the astronomer Steklyashkin, who had observed the Moon more than once through a telescope. Using his telescope, Steklyashkin was able to see that the surface of the Moon was not flat, but mountainous, and many of the mountains on the Moon were not like those on Earth, but for some reason were round, or rather, ring-shaped. Scientists call these ring mountains lunar craters, or circuses. To understand what such a lunar circus, or crater, looks like, imagine a huge circular field, twenty, thirty, fifty, or even a hundred kilometers across, and imagine that this huge circular field is surrounded by an earthen rampart or mountain only two or three kilometers high , - and so you get a lunar circus, or a crater. There are thousands of such craters on the Moon. There are small ones - about two kilometers, but there are also gigantic ones - up to one hundred and forty kilometers in diameter.
Many scientists are interested in the question of how lunar craters were formed and where they came from. In Sunny City, all the astronomers even quarreled among themselves, trying to resolve this complex issue, and were divided into two halves. One half claims that the lunar craters came from volcanoes, the other half says that the lunar craters are traces of the fall of large meteorites. The first half of astronomers are therefore called followers of the volcanic theory or simply volcanists, and the second - followers of the meteorite theory or meteorites.
Znayka, however, did not agree with either the volcanic or meteorite theory. Even before traveling to the Moon, he created his own theory of the origin of lunar craters. Once, together with Steklyashkin, he observed the Moon through a telescope, and it struck him that the lunar surface was very similar to the surface of a well-baked pancake with its spongy holes. After that, Znayka often went to the kitchen and watched the pancakes being baked. He noticed that while the pancake is liquid, its surface is completely smooth, but as it heats up in the frying pan, bubbles of heated steam begin to appear on its surface. Having appeared on the surface of the pancake, the bubbles burst, as a result of which shallow holes are formed on the pancake, which remain when the dough is properly baked and loses its viscosity.
The audio fairy tale Dunno on the Moon is a work by N. N. Nosov. The fairy tale can be listened to online or downloaded. The audiobook “Dunno on the Moon” is presented in mp3 format.
Audio tale Dunno on the Moon, contents:
The audio tale Dunno on the Moon, which you turn on to listen online, is a story that happened a couple of years later from the adventures described by Nosov in Sunny City.
During this time, Znayka visited the Moon with Herring and Fuchsia, published a scientific book, and now intended to fly there on his own. He shared his dream with astronomer Steklyashkin and other colleagues.
The short ones discovered the law of weightlessness and began to construct a real spaceship, and as a gift for the lunar inhabitants they saved the seeds of giant plants.
Donut and Dunno decided not to take them with them, but they heard this and snuck into the rocket at night to hide and fly away with everyone. However, everything went against their expectations - they accidentally pressed the start button and rushed into space alone.
Finding himself on the moon, Dunno penetrated inside the moon through a tunnel, where he was literally immediately arrested. Then he began looking for money to build a new spaceship and go home, got any job, was arrested again and now exiled to Fool's Island.
Meanwhile, Znayka built another rocket and immediately rushed off to search for the missing. The online audio fairy tale ended happily - all friends returned to Earth unharmed!!!
Two and a half years have passed since Dunno traveled to the Sunny City. Although for you and me this is not so much, but for little runts, two and a half years is a very long time. Having listened to the stories of Dunno, Knopochka and Pachkuli Pestrenky, many shorties also made a trip to the Sunny City, and when they returned, they decided to make some improvements at home. Flower City has changed since then so much that it is now unrecognizable. Many new, large and very beautiful houses appeared in it. According to the design of the architect Vertibutylkin, even two revolving buildings were built on Kolokolchikov Street. One is five-story, tower-type, with a spiral descent and a swimming pool around (by going down the spiral descent, one could dive straight into the water), the other is six-story, with swinging balconies, a parachute tower and a ferris wheel on the roof. A lot of cars, spiral vehicles, tube planes, aerohydromotos, tracked all-terrain vehicles and other various vehicles appeared on the streets.
And that's not all, of course. Residents of the Sunny City learned that the short guys from the Flower City were engaged in construction, and came to their aid: they helped them build several so-called industrial enterprises. According to the design of the engineer Klyopka, a large clothing factory was built, which produced a wide variety of clothes, from rubber bras to winter fur coats made of synthetic fiber. Now no one had to slog with a needle to sew the most ordinary trousers or jacket. At the factory, everything was done for short machines. Finished products, as in Sunny City, were distributed to stores, and there everyone took what they needed. All the concerns of the factory workers boiled down to coming up with new styles of clothes and making sure that nothing was produced that the public did not like.
Everyone was very pleased. The only one who suffered in this case was Donut. When Donut saw that he could now buy any thing he might need from the store, he began to wonder why he needed all that pile of suits that had accumulated in his home. All these costumes were also out of fashion, and they could not be worn anyway. Choosing a darker night, Donut tied his old suits in a huge knot, secretly took them out of the house and drowned them in the Cucumber River, and instead of them he got himself new suits from the stores. It ended up that his room turned into some kind of warehouse for ready-made clothes. The suits were in his closet, on the closet, on the table, under the table, on bookshelves, hanging on the walls, on the backs of chairs and even under the ceiling, on strings.
Such an abundance of woolen products in the house infested moths, and to prevent them from gnawing the suits, Donut had to poison them daily with mothballs, from which there was such a strong smell in the room that the unusual little man was knocked off his feet. The donut itself smelled of this stupefying smell, but he got so used to it that he even stopped noticing it. For others, however, the smell was very noticeable. As soon as Donut came to visit someone, the owners immediately began to feel dizzy from stupor. The donut was immediately driven away and all the windows and doors were quickly opened wide to ventilate the room, otherwise you could faint or go crazy. For the same reason, Donut didn’t even have the opportunity to play with the shorties in the yard. As soon as he went out into the yard, everyone around them began to spit and, holding their noses with their hands, rushed to run away from him in different directions without looking back. Nobody wanted to hang out with him. Needless to say, this was terribly offensive for Donut, and he had to take all the costumes he didn’t need to the attic.
However, that was not the main thing. The main thing was that Znayka also visited the Sunny City. There he met the little scientists Fuchsia and Herring, who at that time were preparing their second flight to the Moon. Znayka also got involved in the work of building a space rocket and, when the rocket was ready, made an interplanetary journey with Fuchsia and Herring. Having arrived on the Moon, our brave travelers examined one of the small lunar craters in the area of the lunar Sea of Clarity, visited the cave that was located in the center of this crater, and made observations of changes in gravity. On the Moon, as is known, gravity is much less than on Earth, and therefore observations of changes in gravity are of great scientific importance. Having spent about four hours on the moon. Znayka and his companions were forced to quickly set off on the return journey, since their air supplies were running out. Everyone knows that there is no air on the Moon and, in order not to suffocate, you should always take a supply of air with you. In a condensed form, of course.
Returning to Flower City, Znayka talked a lot about his journey. His stories were of great interest to everyone, and especially to the astronomer Steklyashkin, who had observed the Moon more than once through a telescope. Using his telescope, Steklyashkin was able to see that the surface of the Moon was not flat, but mountainous, and many of the mountains on the Moon were not like those on Earth, but for some reason were round, or rather, ring-shaped. Scientists call these ring mountains lunar craters, or circuses. To understand what such a lunar circus, or crater, looks like, imagine a huge circular field, twenty, thirty, fifty, or even a hundred kilometers across, and imagine that this huge circular field is surrounded by an earthen rampart or mountain only two or three kilometers high , - and so you get a lunar circus, or a crater. There are thousands of such craters on the Moon. There are small ones - about two kilometers, but there are also gigantic ones - up to one hundred and forty kilometers in diameter.
Many scientists are interested in the question of how lunar craters were formed and where they came from. In Sunny City, all the astronomers even quarreled among themselves, trying to resolve this complex issue, and were divided into two halves. One half claims that the lunar craters came from volcanoes, the other half says that the lunar craters are traces of the fall of large meteorites. The first half of astronomers are therefore called followers of the volcanic theory or simply volcanists, and the second - followers of the meteorite theory or meteorites.
Znayka, however, did not agree with either the volcanic or meteorite theory. Even before traveling to the Moon, he created his own theory of the origin of lunar craters. Once, together with Steklyashkin, he observed the Moon through a telescope, and it struck him that the lunar surface was very similar to the surface of a well-baked pancake with its spongy holes. After that, Znayka often went to the kitchen and watched the pancakes being baked. He noticed that while the pancake is liquid, its surface is completely smooth, but as it heats up in the frying pan, bubbles of heated steam begin to appear on its surface. Having appeared on the surface of the pancake, the bubbles burst, as a result of which shallow holes are formed on the pancake, which remain when the dough is properly baked and loses its viscosity.
Znayka even wrote a book in which he wrote that the surface of the Moon was not always hard and cold as it is now. Once upon a time, the Moon was a fiery liquid, that is, heated to a molten state, a ball. Gradually, however, the surface of the Moon cooled and became no longer liquid, but viscous, like dough. It was still very hot from the inside, so hot gases burst to the surface in the form of huge bubbles. Having reached the surface of the Moon, these bubbles, of course, burst. But while the surface of the Moon was still quite liquid, the traces of the bursting bubbles were delayed and disappeared, leaving no trace, just as bubbles on water during rain leave no trace. But when the surface of the Moon cooled so much that it became thick like dough or like molten glass, traces of the bursting bubbles no longer disappeared, but remained in the form of rings protruding above the surface. Cooling more and more, these rings finally hardened. At first they were smooth, like frozen circles on the water, and then they gradually collapsed and eventually became like those lunar ring mountains, or craters, that everyone can observe through a telescope.
Chapter first
How Znayka defeated Professor Zvezdochkin
Two and a half years have passed since Dunno traveled to the Sunny City. Although for you and me this is not so much, but for little runts, two and a half years is a very long time. After listening to the stories of Dunno, Knopochka and Pachkuli Pestrenky, many of the shorties also made a trip to the Sunny City, and when they returned, they decided to make some improvements at home. Flower City has changed since then so much that it is now unrecognizable. Many new, large and very beautiful houses appeared in it. According to the design of the architect Vertibutylkin, even two revolving buildings were built on Kolokolchikov Street. One is five-story, tower-type, with a spiral descent and a swimming pool around (by going down the spiral descent, one could dive straight into the water), the other is six-story, with swinging balconies, a parachute tower and a ferris wheel on the roof. A lot of cars, spiral vehicles, tube planes, aerohydromotos, tracked all-terrain vehicles and other various vehicles appeared on the streets.
And that's not all, of course. Residents of the Sunny City learned that the short guys from the Flower City were engaged in construction, and came to their aid: they helped them build several so-called industrial enterprises. According to the design of the engineer Klepka, a large clothing factory was built, which produced a wide variety of clothes, from rubber bras to winter fur coats made of synthetic fiber. Now no one had to slog with a needle to sew the most ordinary trousers or jacket. At the factory, everything was done for short machines. Finished products, as in Sunny City, were distributed to stores, and there everyone took what they needed. All the concerns of the factory workers boiled down to coming up with new styles of clothes and making sure that nothing was produced that the public did not like.
Everyone was very pleased. The only one who suffered in this case was Donut. When Donut saw that he could now buy any thing he might need from the store, he began to wonder why he needed all that pile of suits that had accumulated in his home. All these costumes were also out of fashion, and they could not be worn anyway. Choosing a darker night, Donut tied his old suits in a huge knot, secretly took them out of the house and drowned them in the Cucumber River, and instead of them he got himself new suits from the stores. It ended up that his room turned into some kind of warehouse for ready-made clothes. The suits were in his closet, on the closet, on the table, under the table, on bookshelves, hanging on the walls, on the backs of chairs, and even under the ceiling, on strings.
Such an abundance of woolen products in the house infested moths, and to prevent them from gnawing the suits, Donut had to poison them daily with mothballs, which gave such a strong smell to the room that it knocked the unusual little man off his feet. The donut itself smelled of this stupefying smell, but he got so used to it that he even stopped noticing it. For others, however, the smell was very noticeable. As soon as Donut came to visit someone, the owners immediately began to feel dizzy from stupor. The donut was immediately driven away and all the windows and doors were quickly opened wide to ventilate the room, otherwise you could faint or go crazy. For the same reason, Donut didn’t even have the opportunity to play with the shorties in the yard. As soon as he went out into the yard, everyone around them began to spit and, holding their noses with their hands, rushed to run away from him in different directions without looking back. Nobody wanted to hang out with him. Needless to say, this was terribly offensive for Donut, and he had to take all the costumes he didn’t need to the attic.
However, that was not the main thing. The main thing was that Znayka also visited the Sunny City. There he met the little scientists Fuchsia and Herring, who at that time were preparing their second flight to the Moon. Znayka also got involved in the work of building a space rocket and, when the rocket was ready, made an interplanetary journey with Fuchsia and Herring. Having arrived on the Moon, our brave travelers examined one of the small lunar craters in the area of the lunar Sea of Clarity, visited the cave that was located in the center of this crater, and made observations of changes in gravity. On the Moon, as is known, gravity is much less than on Earth, and therefore observations of changes in gravity are of great scientific importance. Having spent about four hours on the moon. Znayka and his companions were forced to quickly set off on the return journey, since their air supplies were running out. Everyone knows that there is no air on the Moon and, in order not to suffocate, you should always take a supply of air with you. In condensed form, of course.
Returning to Flower City, Znayka talked a lot about his journey. His stories were of great interest to everyone, and especially to the astronomer Steklyashkin, who had observed the Moon more than once through a telescope. Using his telescope, Steklyashkin was able to see that the surface of the Moon was not flat, but mountainous, and many of the mountains on the Moon were not like those on Earth, but for some reason were round, or rather, ring-shaped. Scientists call these ring mountains lunar craters, or circuses. To understand what such a lunar circus, or crater, looks like, imagine a huge circular field, twenty, thirty, fifty, or even a hundred kilometers across, and imagine that this huge circular field is surrounded by an earthen rampart or mountain only two or three kilometers high , - and so you get a lunar circus, or a crater. There are thousands of such craters on the Moon. There are small ones - about two kilometers, but there are also gigantic ones - up to one hundred and forty kilometers in diameter.
Page 36 of 36
Chapter thirty-six. To Earth
Several days have passed since Dunno arrived with his friends in Space Town. He really liked everything here. Waking up in the morning, he immediately went to the garden and walked there among the thickets of beets, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, or wandered among the tall stems of the giant earthly wheat, rye, millet, buckwheat, lentils, and also oats, from which wonderful cereals are made for very tasty oatmeal.
“Everything here is almost like what we have in the Flower City,” said Dunno. Only in the Flower City it was a little better. It seems like something is still missing here.
One day Dunno woke up in the morning and felt some kind of malaise. Nothing hurt him, but he felt as if he was very, very tired and unable to get out of bed. The time, however, was approaching breakfast, so he somehow got up, got dressed, washed, but when he sat down to have breakfast, he felt that he absolutely did not want to eat.
– You see what other things there are here on the Moon! - Dunno grumbled. - When you want to eat, there is nothing to eat, and when there is something to eat, you don’t want to eat!
Having somehow finished his portion, he put the spoon on the table and went out into the yard. A minute later everyone saw him coming back. His face was scared.
- Brothers, where is the sun? – he asked, looking around in bewilderment.
- You, Dunno, are some kind of donkey! – Znayka answered with mockery. - Well, what kind of sun is it here when we are on the Moon, or, more accurately, in the Moon.
- Well, I forgot! - Dunno waved his hand.
After this incident, he remembered the sun all day, ate little at lunch, and only calmed down in the evening. And the next morning it all started again:
- Where is the sun? - he whined. - I want there to be sunshine! We always had sunshine in the Flower City.
- You’d better do this, my dear, don’t be stupid! - Znayka told him.
- Or maybe he’s sick with us? - said Doctor Pilyulkin. “I’ll take a look at him, I guess.” 
Dragging Dunno into his office, Dr. Pilyulkin began to carefully examine him. Having examined the ears, throat, nose and tongue, Pilyulkin shook his head in bewilderment, after which he ordered Dunno to take off his shirt and began to knock on his back, shoulders, chest and stomach with a rubber mallet, listening at the same time to what sound was produced. Apparently, the sound was not what was needed, so Pilyulkin kept wincing, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. Then he ordered Dunno to lie on his back and began to press his stomach with his palms in different places, saying:
– Does it hurt that much?.. Doesn’t it hurt?.. Does it?..
And again, each time he shook his head sadly.
Finally, he measured Dunno’s temperature, as well as pulse and blood pressure, after which he ordered him to stay in bed, and he went to the short ones and quietly said:
- Trouble, my dears. Our dunno is sick.
- What hurts him? - asked Herring.
“The fact of the matter is that nothing hurts, but nevertheless he is seriously ill.” His disease is very rare. It affects short people who have been away from their homes for too long.
- Look! – Znayka was surprised. - So he needs to be treated.
- How to treat it? – answered Doctor Pilyulkin. – There is no cure for this disease. He must return to Earth as soon as possible. Only the air of his native fields can help him. Such patients always feel very homesick away from their homeland, and this can end badly for them.
- So we should go home? Is that what you mean? – Znayka asked.
“Yes, and as soon as possible,” confirmed Doctor Pilyulkin. “I think that if we set off today, we will have time to fly to Earth with Dunno.”
- So, we need to leave today. “There’s nothing more to think about,” said Fuchsia.
- What about Donut? – Znayka asked. “He stayed in Los Paganos with his spinners.” We can't leave him here alone.
“Shpuntik and I will immediately go after Donut on an all-terrain vehicle,” said Vintik. “We’ll get there by evening and back tomorrow morning.” We'll be here at noon.
“We’ll have to schedule our flight for tomorrow,” said Znayka. “We won’t be able to manage it before.”
“Well, until tomorrow, I think Dunno will hold out,” said Doctor Pilyulkin. - Just you, brothers, act without delay.
Vintik and Shpuntik immediately rolled the all-terrain vehicle out of the garage, took with them Kozlik, who was being taught to drive the all-terrain vehicle, and all three drove off to Los Paganos. Doctor Pilyulkin hastened to inform Dunno that the decision had been made to set off on the return journey. This news made Dunno very happy. He even jumped out of bed and began to say that as soon as he returned home, he would immediately write a letter to Sineglazka, since he had once promised her and now he was tormented by his conscience for not keeping his promise. Having decided to correct his mistake, he noticeably cheered up and began to sing songs.
- Don't worry, brothers! - he said. - We'll see the sun soon!
Doctor Pilyulkin told him to behave more restlessly, since his body was weakened by the disease and he needed to conserve his strength.
Soon Dunno’s joy gradually subsided and was replaced by impatience.
- When will Vintik and Shpuntik return? – every now and then he pestered Pilyulkin.
“They can’t come today, my dear.” They will arrive tomorrow. You’ll have to be patient somehow, but now it’s better to lie down and sleep,” Doctor Pilyulkin persuaded him.
Dunno went to bed, but after lying there for a minute, he jumped up:
- What if they don’t come tomorrow?
“They will come, my dear, they will come,” Pilyulkin reassured him.
In those days, astronomer Alpha and lunarologist Memega, and two physicists Quantik and Kantik, who came with them, were visiting the Space City. All four came specifically to get acquainted with the structure of the space rocket and spacesuits, since they themselves were going to build a rocket and make a space flight to Earth. Now that the mystery of weightlessness has been revealed, interplanetary flights have become available to sleepwalkers. Znayka decided to give the lunar scientists exact drawings of the rocket and ordered that the remaining reserves of lunite and anti-lunite be given to them. Alpha said that the lunar scientists would keep the Space City in order and set up a cosmodrome here with a landing site for spaceships arriving on their planet and for launching rockets to other planets.
When the cosmonauts decided to return to Earth, Znayka, Fuchsia and Herring went to the hangar to thoroughly check the operation of all components and mechanisms of the rocket. Alpha and Memega, as well as Kantik and Quantik, took part in the check. This was extremely useful for them, as they got the opportunity to practically become familiar with the structure of the rocket. In addition, it was decided that Alpha and Memega would fly on a rocket together with the astronauts. Having reached the surface of the Moon, the astronauts will transfer to the NPC rocket, and Alpha and Memega will return to the Space City on the FIS rocket.
Checking the rocket's mechanisms took up all the time remaining at the astronauts' disposal and ended only in the evening.
Having completed the final tests. Znayka said:
– Now the rocket is ready to fly. Tomorrow morning we will turn on weightlessness and tow the spacecraft to the launch pad. And now - sleep. You need to have a good rest before the flight.
Leaving the hangar and locking the door, the astronauts went to the Space City. Before they had time to disappear into the distance, two heads in black masks poked out from behind the fence. For some time they stood silently above the fence and just snorted with their noses. Finally one head said in the voice of Julio:
- Finally, they got away so that they could fall through the ground!
- Nothing. Better let them fly into the air! – the other head grumbled in the voice of Sprouts.
It was actually Spruts and Julio.
After waiting a little longer and making sure that there was no one nearby, Julio said:
“Come on, climb over the fence, I’ll give you a box of dynamite.”
Sprouts, groaning, climbed onto the fence and jumped off the other side. Julio picked up the box from the ground and began handing it to Sprouts over the fence. Sprouts extended his arms upward, trying to pick up the box. But the box turned out to be very heavy. Sprouts could not hold him back and flew to the ground with him.
-What are you throwing? – Julio hissed at him. – There’s dynamite there, not pasta! It will shake so much that there won’t be a wet spot left!
He climbed over the fence after Sprouts and tried to open the hangar door.
- Closed! - he muttered angrily. - We'll have to dig.
Having turned on a secret flashlight and crouched against the wall, both intruders pulled knives out of their pockets and began to dig in the ground with them.
The short guys in Space City had been sleeping for a long time. Nobody expected anything bad. Only Znayka and Professor Zvezdochkin were awake. They were busy with mathematical calculations: it was necessary to calculate the flight trajectory of the spacecraft so that, upon rising, it would accurately fall into the hole that existed in the lunar sphere, through which it was possible to get out to the surface of the Moon.
It was already well after midnight when Znayka and Professor Zvezdochkin finished all the calculations and began to go to bed. Having undressed, Znayka turned off the electricity and, climbing into bed, was about to pull the blanket over himself, but just at that time there was an explosion. The walls of the room shook, plaster fell from the ceiling with a roar, glass flew out of the windows, the bed on which Znayka was lying turned over, and he rolled out of it onto the floor.
Professor Zvezdochkin, who was sleeping in the same room, also ended up on the floor. Wrapped in a blanket, Znayka immediately jumped out into the yard and saw a column of flame and smoke rising upward.
- Rocket! There's a rocket there! – he shouted to Professor Zvezdochkin, who jumped out after him.
They rushed forward, not paying attention to the fragments of wood falling from above, and, running up to the place where the hangar had previously stood, they saw a pile of smoking ruins. The rest of the short men were already running to the scene. 
- There was an explosion here! Someone blew up a rocket! - Znayka shouted in a voice broken from excitement.
- This is nothing other than the police! – Quantik exclaimed. – They decided to take revenge on us!
- How will we fly back now? - asked the short ones.
“Maybe we can fix the rocket?” - Memega said.
- How to fix it? Maybe there isn’t even a rocket left here,” Fuchsia answered.
- Calm, brothers! - said Znayka, who was the first to control himself. “We need to quickly remove the debris and find out what’s wrong with the spaceship.”
The short guys got to work. By dawn the place was cleared, and everyone saw that the force of the explosion had turned the rocket on its side. Its tail was completely torn off, its main engine was damaged and its window glass was blown out.
“Such damage cannot be repaired even in two weeks,” Znayka said with concern. - We'll have to postpone the flight.
- What are you, what are you! - Doctor Pilyulkin exclaimed. – Don’t you dare think about it! Dunno won't last two weeks. It must be sent today.
“You see,” Znayka answered, pointing to the mutilated rocket.
– Or maybe you can climb to the surface of the Moon simply in spacesuits? - said Herring. – After all, our spacesuits are adapted for flights in a state of weightlessness. Having risen to the surface of the Moon, we will board the NPC rocket and fly to Earth.
- This is the right idea! – Znayka was delighted. – But are the spacesuits damaged? They're in a rocket.
Fuchsia and Herring rushed to the rocket cabin and began to press a button that activated an electric motor that opened the door to the airlock chamber. The motor, however, did not operate and the door remained closed. Then engineer Klepka, who by that time had completely recovered from his injury, climbed inside the cabin through the broken window and opened the door to the spacesuit compartment.
- Brothers, the spacesuits are intact! – he shouted, making sure that the suits were unharmed.
- Hooray! - the short ones shouted, delighted.
Engineer Klepka managed to fix the electric motor and open the airlock door. The short men immediately began to pull out the spacesuits and carefully check them.
By noon, Vintik, Shpuntik, Kozlik and Donut returned to Space Town, and the cosmonauts began preparations for departure.
The news that the cosmonauts were about to fly away quickly spread among the Neelov residents, and the whole village came to say goodbye to their friends.
“We are giving you the entire experimental garden and all the plantings around the Space City,” Znayka told the Neelovites. - Now the fruits will soon ripen, and you will remove them. You alone will not be able to do this, but you will call the short ones from other villages for help. It will be easier for you together. And in the future, try to grow more giant plants. Let giant plants spread throughout your planet, and then you will no longer have any need.
The Neelovites cried with joy. They kissed Znayka and all the other shorties. And Kozlik was also happy, since Vintik and Shpuntik gave him their all-terrain vehicle.
“What a pity,” Kozlik said to Dunno. “Now our real life begins, and you’re flying away!”
“Nothing,” said Dunno. - We will fly to you, and you will fly to us. And now I can no longer stay here. I really want to see the sun.
As soon as Dunno remembered the sun, tears immediately fell from his eyes. The strength left him, and he sank straight to the ground. Doctor Pilyulkin ran up and, seeing that Dunno’s eyes had closed by themselves, quickly gave him a sniff of ammonia. Dunno came to his senses, but was very pale.
- Well, how can we fly with you? - Doctor Pilyulkin was killed. – You should lie in bed, and not go on a space flight. I don’t know how you’ll get to Earth in this state!
“Nothing,” said Vintik. – Shpuntik and I will take a rocking chair and attach wheels to it. It will be possible to carry Dunno in this chair so that he does not waste extra energy.
So they did. As soon as the chair was ready, Znayka gave the command to put on spacesuits for everyone. The short ones immediately began to put on their spacesuits, and Kantik and Quantik put the spacesuit on Dunno.
It must be said that these spacesuits were somewhat different from those used by Dunno and Donut. At the top of the pressure helmet of such a spacesuit, a small electric motor with a four-blade propeller like a fan was installed. The propeller, rotating, lifted the astronaut into the air. By giving his body one or another position in space, the astronaut could direct his flight in any direction. In addition, the propeller could act like a parachute. When falling from a great height, the astronaut could turn on the electric motor, and the rapidly rotating propeller would immediately slow down the fall.
As soon as the spacesuits were put on, Znayka ordered everyone to tie themselves to a long nylon cord that had been prepared in advance. Everyone immediately followed the order. At the same time, Kantik and Quantik and Alpha and Memega sat Dunno in a rocking chair, attached him with belts to the seat so that he would not fall out on the way, and the chair was also tied to a nylon cord.
Finally all preparations were completed. The astronauts attached alpenstocks, ice axes and geological hammers to their belts and lined up in a chain. Znayka, who stood in front of everyone, turned on the weightlessness device, which was attached to the spacesuit behind his back, and pressed the electric motor button. A steady buzzing sound was heard. It was the propeller spinning. Znayka, having lost weight, smoothly rose into the air and dragged the rest of the cosmonauts with him.
The sleepwalkers gasped in amazement as they saw the astronauts rise into the air in a long line. Everyone shouted, waved their arms, clapped their hands, and began throwing their hats into the air. Some even jumped with excitement. Many were crying.
Meanwhile, the astronauts rose faster and faster. Soon they turned into barely noticeable dots and finally disappeared completely from sight. The sleepwalkers, however, did not leave, as if they hoped that the aliens from the distant planet Earth would return and they would see them again. A whole hour passed, and two hours passed, and finally three hours passed. The Moon Shorties began to lose hope of seeing their friends again.
And indeed, there was nothing more to wait for. At this time, the astronauts were already making their way through an inclined ice tunnel in the shell of the Moon. The air here was extremely thin, so the propeller created too little thrust. Nevertheless, with the help of ice axes, which the astronauts armed themselves with, they managed to overcome all the obstacles and get into the icicle grotto, and from there penetrate into the cave, from which there was an exit to the surface of the Moon.
Here Znayka decided to divide the entire squad into two groups. The first group had to be sent forward to check the rocket without wasting a minute. After all, a lot of time had passed since the NPC rocket landed on the surface of the Moon, and it could have been damaged by meteors, not to mention the fact that it was impossible to go on a space flight without thoroughly checking the operation of all instruments and mechanisms. In the first group, Znayka decided to nominate himself, Professor Zvezdochkin, as well as Fuchsia and Seledochka. He ordered the rest to stay in the cave for now and start mining lunite and antilunite crystals, the supply of which needed to be delivered to Earth.
Doctor Pilyulkin said that Dunno feels very bad, so he needs to be immediately sent into the rocket, where he can free himself from the heavy spacesuit. But Znayka said:
– Now it’s a moonlit night. The sun has set and it is very cold on the surface of the moon. If the rocket is damaged, then it will be impossible to stay in it without a spacesuit. It’s better for you to stay with Dunno in the cave for now. It's still warmer here. If it turns out that the rocket is in working order, we will inform you, and you will immediately deliver Dunno to us.
Having given the order that no one should leave the cave, so as not to be exposed to cosmic rays again, Znayka set off on the return journey, accompanied by Fuchsia, Seledochka and Professor Zvezdochkin.
Some people imagine that when it is night on the moon it is very dark and nothing can be seen, but this is not true. Just as on a moonlit night our Earth is illuminated by the Moon, so the Moon is illuminated by our Earth, but since the globe is much larger than the lunar globe, more light is produced from it. If the Moon from the Earth seems to us the size of a small plate, the Earth from the Moon looks like a large round tray. Science has established that the light of the Sun reflected by our Earth illuminates the Moon ninety times stronger than the light with which the Moon illuminates the Earth. This means that in that part of the Moon from which the Earth is visible, you can freely read, write, draw, and do various other things at night.
As soon as Znayka and his companions left the cave, they saw above them a black, bottomless sky with myriads of sparkling stars and a huge luminous disk of bright white and even slightly bluish color. This disk was our Earth, which this time was visible not in the shape of a sickle or crescent, but in the form of a complete circle, since the Sun illuminated it no longer with lateral, but with direct rays.
Illuminated by the earth's disk, the surface of the Moon and the mountains visible in the distance were reddish in color: from light cherry to purple or dark crimson, and everything that remained in the shadows, everything where the light did not penetrate, right down to the smallest cracks underfoot, glowed with flickering emerald -green color. This was explained by this. 410 the surface of lunar rocks had the ability to glow under the influence of invisible cosmic rays. Wherever the astronauts turned their gaze, they everywhere observed a struggle between two colors: red and green, and only the rocket visible in the distance glowed bright blue, like a piece of the spring light blue earthly sky.
The astronauts who remained in the cave decided not to waste time and began to mine lunite and anti-lunite. Ice axes and geological hammers clattered together on the rocks. However, no knocking was heard, because sound, as everyone now knows, does not propagate in an airless environment.
About an hour passed in intense work. Soon an order was received from Znayka by radiotelephone to deliver Dunno into the rocket. Znayka reported that the rocket was not damaged by meteors, the sealing was not broken; however, many mechanisms need adjustment, and batteries need electrolyte changing and charging. All this will take at least twelve hours, so Znayka ordered to use all the remaining time to mine and load lunite and anti-lunite into the rocket.
Doctor Pilyulkin, without hesitating for a second, went inside, carrying in front of him a rocking chair, on which Dunno lay in his spacesuit. When Pilyulkin finally hobbled to the rocket. Dunno became so weak that he could not get out of his chair and had to be carried in his arms. With the help of Znayka, Fuchsia and Herring, Pilyulkin managed to drag Dunno into the rocket. Here they pulled off Dunno’s space suit, took off her clothes and laid her on a bed in the cabin.
Freed from the heavy spacesuit, Dunno felt some relief and even tried to get out of bed, but gradually his strength left him again. The weakness came such that it was difficult for him to move his arm or leg.
-What kind of disease is this? - said Dunno. “I feel like I’m all lead and my body weighs three times more than it should.”
“This cannot be,” Znayka answered him. “You’re on the Moon and you should weigh not three times more, but six times less.” Now, if you got to the planet Jupiter, you would really weigh three times there, or, more precisely, two and sixty-four hundredths times more than on Earth. But on Mars you would weigh three times less. But if you landed in the Sun...
“Okay, okay,” Doctor Pilyulkin interrupted him. – Don’t bother him with these numbers. Take better care so that you can take off on your flight as soon as possible.
Znayka left, and together with Zvezdochkin they began checking the operation of the electronic computer. A few hours later, all the mechanisms were checked, but the rocket could not take off until the charging of the batteries, on which the proper operation of all lighting and heating devices, as well as the engines, depended.
Doctor Pilyulkin did not leave a single step from Dunno. Seeing that Dunno’s strength was declining, he did not know what to do and was very nervous. True, as soon as weightlessness was turned on and the rocket finally set off, Dunno’s well-being became better. But again not for long. Soon he again began to complain that he was being weighed down, although, of course, there could be no gravity, since he, like everyone else in the rocket, was in a state of weightlessness. Doctor Pilyulkin understood that these painful sensations were a consequence of the patient’s depressed mental state, and tried to distract Dunno from gloomy thoughts by talking kindly to him and telling him fairy tales.
All the other little ones looked into the cabin and remembered what other fairy tales there were to tell Dunno. Everyone was just thinking about how to help the patient.
After some time, they noticed that Dunno had stopped showing interest in his surroundings and no longer listened to what they told him. His eyes slowly wandered over the ceiling of the cabin, his dry lips silently whispered something. Doctor Pilyulkin listened with all his might, but could not make out a word.
Soon Dunno's eyes closed and he fell asleep. His chest was still heaving heavily. Breath hissed out of his mouth. The cheeks were burning with a feverish blush. Gradually his breathing calmed down. The chest heaved less and less. Finally, it began to seem to Pilyulkin that Dunno was not breathing at all. Feeling that things were wrong, Pilyulkin grabbed Dunno by the hand. The pulse was barely palpable and was very slow.
- Dunno! - Pilyulkin shouted, frightened. - Dunno, wake up!
But Dunno did not wake up. Pilyulkin quickly thrust a bottle of ammonia under his nose. Dunno slowly opened his eyes.
– It’s hard for me to breathe! – he whispered with effort.
Seeing that Dunno had closed his eyes again, Doctor Pilyulkin began to shake him by the shoulder.
- Dunno, don’t sleep! - he shouted. – You must fight for life! Do you hear? Don't give in! Do not sleep! You must live, Dunno! You must live!
Noticing that Dunno’s face was filled with some strange pallor, Pilyulkin again grabbed his hand. The pulse was not palpable. Pilyulkin pressed his ear to Dunno’s chest. No heartbeat could be heard. He again gave Dunno a sniff of ammonia, but it had no effect.
- Oxygen! - Pilyulkin shouted, throwing the bottle of ammonia aside.
Vintik and Shpuntik grabbed a rubber cushion and rushed to the gas compartment where the oxygen cylinders were stored, and Pilyulkin, without wasting a second of time, began to give Dunno artificial respiration. The short men gathered at the door of the cabin watched with alarm as Doctor Pilyulkin rhythmically raised Dunno’s hands up and immediately lowered them down, pressing them tightly to his chest. From time to time he stopped for a minute and, leaning his ear against Dunno’s chest, tried to catch the heartbeat, after which he continued to perform artificial respiration.
No one could say how much time had passed. Everyone thought it was a lot. Finally, Pilyulkin heard Dunno sigh. Pilyulkin was wary, but continued to raise and lower Dunno’s hands until he was sure that breathing had been restored. Seeing that Vintik and Shpuntik had brought a pillow with oxygen, he ordered the oxygen to be released little by little from a tube near the patient’s mouth. The short ones noticed with relief how the terrible pallor began to disappear from Dunno’s face. Finally he opened his eyes.
“Breathe, breathe, Dunno,” Doctor Pilyulkin said affectionately. “Now breathe, my dear, on your own.” Breathe deeply. And don't sleep, dear, don't sleep! Be patient a little!
He ordered oxygen to be given to the patient for some more time, and he began to wipe the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. At this time, one of the short guys looked out the window and said:
- Look, brothers, the Earth is already close.
Dunno wanted to get up to look, but from weakness he could not even turn his head.
“Lift me up,” he whispered. – I want to see the Earth one more time!
- Pick him up, pick him up! - Doctor Pilyulkin allowed.
Fuchsia and Herring took Dunno by the arms and brought her to the porthole. Dunno looked into it and saw the Earth. Now it was visible not as from the Moon, but in the form of a huge ball with light spots of continents and dark seas and oceans. There was a luminous halo around the globe that enveloped the entire Earth, like a warm, soft duvet. While Dunno looked, the Earth moved noticeably closer, and it was no longer possible to completely cover the globe with one’s gaze.
Seeing that Dunno was tired and breathing heavily, Fuchsia and Herring carried him back to bed, but he said:
- Dress me!
“Okay, okay,” said Doctor Pilyulkin. - Rest a little. Now we will dress you.
Fuchsia and Herring put Dunno to bed, put on his canary yellow trousers and an orange shirt, pulled stockings onto his legs and put on boots, finally tied a green tie around his neck and even put his favorite blue hat on his head.
- Now carry me! Bring it! - Dunno whispered in an intermittent voice.
-Where should I take you, my dear? – Pilyulkin was surprised.
- To the ground! Hurry!.. We need to get to Earth!
Seeing that Dunno was again breathing feverishly and trembling all over, Pilyulkin said:
- Good good. Now, my dear! Take him to the cabin.
Fuchsia and Herring carried Dunno out of the cabin. Doctor Pilyulkin opened the elevator cabin, and all four descended into the tail section of the rocket. After them, Vintik and Shpuntik, Professor Zvezdochkin and other shorties came down. Seeing that Fuchsia and Herring stopped at the door, Dunno became worried:
- Bring it, bring it! What are you doing?.. Open the door!.. To Earth! – he whispered, greedily catching the air with his lips.
- Now, dear, wait! “We’ll open it now,” answered Pilyulkin, trying to calm Dunno. “Now, my dear, let’s ask Znayka if we can open the door.”
And now, as if in response to this, the voice of Znayka was heard over the loudspeaker, who continued to remain at his post in the control cabin:
- Attention! Attention! We are starting to land. Get ready for the gravity to turn on! Everyone get ready for the heaviness!
The short ones, who did not have time to realize what was about to happen, suddenly felt a heaviness that affected them, like a push that knocked everyone off their feet. Vintik and Shpuntik were the first to realize what had happened, and, jumping to their feet, lifted the sick Dunno from the floor, and Pilyulkin and Zvezdochkin helped Fuchsia and Herring get up.
Before the short ones had time to get used to the weight, a second push followed, and everyone found themselves on the floor again.
- Earth!.. Prepare for landing! – Znayka’s voice rang out. – Open the airlock doors.
Professor Zvezdochkin, who was closest to the exit, decisively pressed the button. A ray of light flashed through the opened door.
- Carry me! Bring it! - Dunno shouted and stretched his hands towards the light.
Vintik and Shpuntik carried him out of the rocket and began to go down the metal stairs. Dunno took his breath away when he saw a bright blue sky with white clouds and the sun shining above his head. The fresh air intoxicated him. Everything swam before his eyes: a green meadow with yellow dandelions, white daisies and blue bells dappled among the emerald grass, and trees with leaves fluttering in the wind, and the blue, silvery surface of the river in the distance.
Seeing that Vintik and Shpuntik had already set foot on the ground. Dunno became terribly worried. 
- And put me down! - he shouted. - Put me on the ground!
Vintik and Shpuntik carefully lowered Dunno with their feet to the ground.
- Now lead me! Lead! - Dunno shouted.
Vintik and Shpuntik slowly led him, carefully supporting him by the arms.
- Now let me in! Let me in! Me myself!
Seeing that Vintik and Shpuntik are afraid to let him go. Dunno began to break free from his hands and even tried to hit Shpuntik. Vintik and Shpuntik let him go. Dunno took a few hesitant steps, but immediately fell to his knees and, falling face down, began to kiss the ground. The hat flew off his head. Tears rolled down from my eyes. And he whispered:
- My land, mother! I will never forget you!
The red sun gently warmed him with its rays, a fresh breeze moved his hair, as if stroking his head. And Dunno felt as if some huge, enormous feeling was filling his chest. He didn’t know what this feeling was called, but he knew that it was good and that there was no better feeling in the world. He pressed his chest to the ground, as if to a native, close creature, and felt how his strength was returning to him again and his illness disappeared by itself.
Finally he cried all the tears he had and stood up from the ground. And he laughed merrily when he saw his short friends who joyfully greeted their native Earth.
- Well, brothers, that’s all! – he shouted cheerfully. – And now we can go on a trip somewhere again!
That's how short this Dunno was.
Illustrations: Revutskaya E.
