: The smart mutt ended up in a science lab. After a long preparation, she was sent into space in an apparatus with large portholes. Seeing the boundless space, the curd went crazy.
The titles of the chapters are conditional.
Chapter 1. A very smart cur
The childhood of the stray dog was hungry and homeless, but happy. She ate then a little, but she seemed well-fed, as if "she was getting fat from happiness, from the joy of being alive." Then childhood ended, the world is old cold and cruel. Only occasionally bright moments happened in a dog’s life - spending the night in a warm place, tasty bone, short dog love, motherhood.
The little mongrel was very smart. She thoroughly studied the life of a big city, knew how to cross a busy street, and understood how a car was different from a train traveling on rails. She easily found the warm pipes of the heating plant, knew the timetable of the garbage-transporting cars, and understood the danger of a person with a solid network behind her back or an electric cable crawling out from under the ground.
Probably, the volume of technical experience of this dog was greater than that of experienced, intelligent people who lived two or three centuries before it.
Without this experience, the dog would not have survived in the city. But she had wisdom of life, she understood, "that in eternal change, in vagrancy is the basis of her existence." A wandering lifestyle made her wary, incredulous, and protected her from evil people with a net in her hands.However, hard life did not harden the dog, just her love was not needed by anyone.
Chapter 2. Mutton gets into the laboratory, it is prepared for flight into space
The dog was caught at night when she was sleeping, but was not put to sleep, but was sent to college. They bought it there, saved it from fleas, fed it and put it in a cage. A few days later the dog began to yearn for a free life.
Finally, the dog was transferred to another room, called Pestruska and began to prepare "for a great cause."
Pestruska - a dog, a cur, very smart and faithful
The project was led by Alexei Georgievich.
Alexey Georgievich - scientist, space biologist, thin, light-eyed, with a heavy, non-living character
Pestruska quickly realized that he was in charge here, and turned all his love on him.
Neither painful analyzes and punctures, nor painful trials in the centrifuge and vibrochamber could shake Pestrushka’s loyalty, although she understood that all the torment came from Alexei Georgievich. The scientist noted that Pestrushka arouses in him not only scientific interest, but also a “compassionate, compassionate feeling”. However, he understood that it was ridiculous to become attached to a creature doomed to death.
The days passed. Gradually the trial was approaching, for which Pestruska was being prepared. Alexey Georgievich "was one of the founders of a new science - space biology." Colleagues did not like this hot-tempered, difficult to communicate, tough and vindictive person.
Domestic was also not easy - Alexei Georgievich constantly suffered from heartburn, he was annoyed by the slightest noise.He suspected friends of indifference and envy, often quarreled with them, and then for a long time sorted out the relationship. Alexei Georgievich tired of himself no less than others.
Gradually, the scientist began to notice the devotion of Pestruska.
The bent-legged mongrel did not participate in official intrigues, did not neglect his health, and did not show envy. She, like Christ, paid him good for evil, love for the suffering that he brought her.
He told the dog that she was to see "a global space not limited by the earth's horizon." It seemed to the scientist that Pestrushka’s smart eyes would tell him what she saw and felt. This experience will be special - the dog will be put into orbit in a space projectile with large portholes around the perimeter, and "space will invade the psyche of a living creature." And "it seemed to him that the dog understood him."
People began to notice that Alexei Georgievich had changed, became soft, compliant and sad. This time he was not carried away by a difficult task, with Pestruska everything was different.
Alexey Georgievich looked in good brown dog eyes, and it seemed to him that soon he would open something new, and his discovery would enrich and exalt the “life of earthly creatures”. By this he forgave and justified himself. Everything that worried and angered him before, now meant nothing to him.
Chapter 3. Pooch sees endless outer space and goes crazy
The flight has completed. Looking into the cold, boundless space, Pestruska howled for a long time from terror, then fell silent, and the instruments continued to record her accelerated pulse and jumps in blood pressure.The laboratory joker suggested that under the influence of cosmic particles, Pestrushka’s genes would be rebuilt, and her grandchildren would write symphonic music and construct cybernetic machines.
Alexei Georgievich personally went to the spacecraft landing site to be the first to see Pestrushka. The dog immediately rushed towards him, wagging its tail.
The dog licked his hands as a sign of his humility, as a sign of the eternal renunciation of the life of a free wanderer, as a sign of reconciliation with all that is and will be.
Finally, the scientist looked into her eyes. These were the misty eyes of a "creature with a dull mind and a humble loving heart."
