"Banks, Iain - Feersum Endjinn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Banks Iain M)

The piker swept out of the oxygen works and headed for East Cliff along a dusty, winding road filled with heavy traffic both machine and chimeric. The groomed, carefully landscaped parkland that had graced this part of the Great Hall for a thousand generations had been ripped up without a second thought when the Encroachment's implications hadЧapparentlyЧbeen driven home to the King and his more sceptical advisers; normally any such industry would have been banished to the inner depths of the fastness, where there was little natural light and objectionably ugly or effluent processes could safely be housed without disturbing either the view or the air, and where only the desperate or outlawed would ever choose to live.

StillЧfor all the outrage, and the suicides of a number of gardeners and forestersЧwhen the King had decided such a plant must be built, and must be built quickly, and under the eye of the Palace, the earth-moversЧthemselves newly constructed for the purposeЧhad been sent in, and woods, lakes and glades which had delighted all castes and classes for millennia were levelled under their ploughs, scrapes and tracks.

The chief scientist watched the oxygen works disappear behind a wooded hill, until the construction site was marked only by a haze of smoke and dust hanging in the air above the trees. It would reappear as they headed out across the plain to East Cliff; the oxygen works was sited on a small plateau and so visible from almost everywhere throughout the ten-kilometre length of the Great Hall. Gadfium wondered again whether the real reason the King had had the works built here was to impress upon his subjects the full gravity of their situation, and give them a preparatory hint of the kind of sacrifices that would need to be made in the future. Gadfium shook her head, tapped her fingers on the seat's wooden armrest and opened a vent by the side of the window to let the warm air in. She looked at the man and woman sitting opposite her.

Rasfline and Goscil had been with her since the start of the present emergency, ten years ago, when science had started to matter again. Rasfline epitomised the officer caste, and seemed to take pride in making himself as much like a machine as possible; in all those ten years he had never called Gadfium anything other than 'Chief Scientist' or 'ma'am'.

GoscilЧplump-faced, wild-haired, and whose tunic never seemed to quite fit properly or ever be entirely free from stainsЧhad seemed to grow more dishevelled over the years, as though in response to Rasfline's severe tidiness. She had uploaded some files from the oxygen works, and sat with her eyes closed now, reviewing this information and occasionally making small involuntary noises; tutting, hissing, snorting, humming. Rasfline set his jaw and looked away out the window.

'Any more details from the Plain?' Gadfium asked him.

'None, ma'am.' Rasfline paused, making it obvious he was communicating, then shook his head. 'As before; the observatory there has reported something unusual and the Palace has granted their request that you attend.'

'Plain of Sliding Stones?' Goscil said, opening her eyes suddenly. She blew hair away from the side of her face, glancing at Rasfline. 'I heard some gossip on the science channel about the stones doing something weird.'

'Really,' Rasfline said drily.

'And how did this weirdness manifest itself?' Gadfium asked.

Goscil shrugged. 'Didn't say; there's just a filed report from some junior timed about dawn that the stones were moving and something strange was happening. Nothing since.' She glanced at Rasfline again. 'Probably been clamped down.'

Gadfium nodded. 'Has there been much wind and precipitation up there lately?'

Both Rasfline and Goscil went still for a moment. Goscil answered first: 'Yes. Enough melt for them to move, and some wind. ButЕ'

'Yes?' Gadfium said.

Goscil shrugged. 'The way that junior reported; said there was aЕ may I repeat it verbatim?'

Gadfium nodded. 'Go on.'

Goscil closed her eyes. Rasfline looked away again. 'Umm,' Goscil said, 'Е Usual identifiers; Plain of Stones Observatory, etc., then, quote: 'Чher voice changed here to something like a chantЧ'something odd going on. Something very odd. Oh shit. Let's see, right, general data first: wind blowing; north-west, force four, precip; three mill yesterday, plain friction factor; six. Oh, look at them! Look at that. They can't do that! They've never done that, have they? Wait tillЧ(unintelligible)ЧI'm calling the chief observerЕ filing this as is. Signing off.'

Goscil opened her eyes. 'Unquote. After that, nothing. People have been trying to get in touch with the observatory since, but there's no reply.'

'When was the report timed?'

'Six-thirteen.'

Gadfium looked at Rasfline, who was smiling thinly. 'Has the Palace been in touch with the observatory since?'

'I cannot say, Chief Scientist,' the aide replied, then, as though seeking to be helpful nevertheless, added: 'The message I received requesting your presence was timed at ten forty-five.'

'Hmm,' Gadfium said. 'Kindly request that the Palace furnish us with more details, and allow us to speak directly with the observatory.'

'Ma'am,' Rasfline said, and took on the glassy-eyed look of someone making it politely obvious they were communicating.