"Aldridge, Ray - The Spine DiversV1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Aldridge Ray)

I nodded affably. This seemed to annoy Teeg or so I might have thought, had I believed him human. "Enjoy your wallow," he snapped. "At one time, this spring was sacred to the Goddess of Shallow Clams, and no one went shod over its holy ground. Now, flabby offworlders sport in its pure waters, happy as rotting blowfish." He went away.

In the morning we took the trail again. We made camp four more times before we reached the village of the Spine divers. We met no other travelers along the way; the agencies in Skull arranged matters so as to preserve the illusion that the Spine was an empty place -- parties on foot were carefully scheduled to avoid overlaps and all return traffic was by flyer. It worked for me. The magic of traveling among wonders had come upon me again, perhaps not so strongly as in the past, but enough that I could begin my work in earnest.

The village, which had no name, lay in the open mouth of a broken cliff, several hundred meters above Stormbringer Sea. My bearers paused at the top of the path that led down into the village, and my recorder lights twinkled.

The houses encrusted the cliffs like barnacles, white sprawls of masonry with black stone roofs. No one moved in the narrow alleys and stairways that separated the houses -- the divers are a principally nocturnal people. Also, much of the village's life goes on in the caverns below.

I felt a familiar surge of anticipation, a complex of emotions that even my harshest critics would admit I feel well. Curiosity was a large component, of course. I wondered about the folk of the village -- what were their special peculiarities . . . their dreams, their fears, their expectations? How would I seem to them? What would the local food be like; would I eat it with pleasure or resignation? Would I meet a special person, someone with whom I might form a bond of actual friendship, through whose eyes I might, to some extent, see the village as the inhabitants saw it? Would I find a lover during my stay? Such a happy circumstance would add to the value of my travelogue -- my fans are, like everyone else in the universe, curious about the sexual customs of faraway people.

I refuse, however, to visit brothels in search of merchantable memories -- I believe my fans appreciate this small integrity -- and besides, sexuality that arises from friendship is almost always more interesting than that which derives from commerce. Love, now . . . that's another matter entirely; it lies well outside my area of specialization and I have had no familiarity with it. I would hesitate to attempt it, even as an experiment.

All in all, I anticipated adventure of a not too dangerous or strenuous nature. I hoped for some degree of mystery, which the unusual circumstances of the villagers promised. Finally, I felt that small degree of fear that any realistic traveler carries along with the rest of the baggage. I journeyed in a strange land, where it was easy to believe anything might happen, and of course death was almost a cottage industry in the village.

"You will stay at the offwortder's inn, I suppose," said Teeg, with a perfunctory sneer.

"What other lodging is available?" I asked.

He shrugged.

But as we approached the village, after a tense half-hour of jolting down the steep path, a flyer from one of the Skull agencies landed on the inn's roof and belched forth a crowd of weekenders.

I was disappointed, of course. Somewhere along the way, while putting up with the discomforts of traveling the path in the old-fashioned style, I had convinced myself that I was approaching a difficult destination, off the well-beaten tourist routes, a place only the most intrepid might visit. To an extent that was true, of course; probably the weekenders thought themselves intrepid too.

The truth is the village has many visitors. There are the simple tourists, like me, but others come to the village with more complicated agendas.

In any case, by the time we reached the inn, all the rooms were taken, and Teeg smiled.

At first I believed that this was part of the Real Experience the agency had promised, a small difficulty leading to an intriguing resolution.

Teeg initially took the position that having delivered me to the nameless village, his obligation was at an end, but he was suspiciously quick to respond to my threats and entreaties. A real Spiner, so I thought then, would have drawn out his enjoyment of my predicament. Teeg instead offered to find me a room in the house of his demi-uncle, who, so Teeg told me, resided in the village but was neither a diver nor a user of the diverts drug- and so might be considered a reliable person.

I was not entirely reassured, but fortunately, my recorders were running and I got some fairly good material -- my initial feeling of annoyance, then the illogical anger of the traveler whose plans have gone astray, and eventually 'the satisfaction of having coped successfully with misfortune. I noticed an almost pleasurable anxiety associated with my changed circumstances. I now' expected discomfort, but also adventure of an unlooked-for variety.

The house was larger than some, also a bit more dilapidated. A crumbling terrace ran the length of the facade. A scattering of wicker chairs held several ancient persons -- wrapped in thick robes and gazing fixedly out over Stormbringer Sea -- who failed to acknowledge my arrival by so much as a blink.

"Burned-out cases," Teeg said, with his customary sneer. "Uncle collects them, as some might collect rare orchids or the ears of soft white persons."

"A curious hobby," I said cautiously.

Teeg laughed. "Not so curious as yours. I have watched you, straining to feel something, to revive your dead heart."

"It's no hobby." I was a little irritated. What did this unwashed savage know of my craft?

"More unbelievable yet. There exist people so shallow and crippled that they would pay money for your false memories?"

I shook my head; no profit in discussing aesthetic matters with Teeg the Spiner.

He laughed again and led me through a portico into the house.