"Anderson, Poul - Queen Of Air & Darkness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

"And he is a cuddly dear," Shadow-of-a-Dream said. "And we need more like
him, do we not, Lady Sky?"

"It had to happen in some twilight," agreed she who stood above. "Take
him onward and care for him. By this sign," which she made, "is he claimed
for the Dwellers."

Their joy was freed. Ayoch cartwheeled over the ground till he reached a
shiverleaf. There he swarmed up the trunk and out on a limb, perched half
hidden by unrestful pale foliage, and crowed.

Boy and girl bore the child toward Carheddin at an easy distancedevouring
lope which let him pipe and hey sing:

"Wahaii, wahaii!

Wayala, laii! -

Wing on the wind
high over heaven,
shrilly shrieking,
rush with the rainspears,
tumble through tumult,
drift to the moonhoar trees and the dream-heavy
shadows beneath them,
and rock in, be one with the clinking wavelets of
lakes where the starbeams drown."

*

As she entered, Barbro Cullen felt, through all grief and fury, stabbed by
dismay. The room was unkempt. Journals, tapes, reels, codices, file boxes,
bescribbled papers were piled on every table. Dust filmed most shelves and
corners. Against one wall stood a laboratory setup, microscope and
analytical equipment. She recognized it as compact and efficient, but it was
not what you would expect in an office, and it gave the air a faint chemical
reek. The rug was threadbare, the furniture shabby.

This was her final chance?

Then Eric Sherrinford approached. "Good day, Mrs. Cullen," he said. His
tone was crisp, his handclasp firm. His faded gripsuit didn't bother her.
She
wasn't inclined to fuss about her own appearance except on special
occasions. (And would she ever again have one, unless she got back Jimmy?)
What she observed was a cat's personal neatness.

A smile radiated in crow's feet from his eyes. "Forgive my bachelor
housekeeping. On Beowulf we have-we had, at any ratemachines for that, so