"Baxter, Stephen - Manifold 03 - Origin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Baxter Stephen)

haunches. She remembered how he had been in those last instants before the
destruction of the plane, the reckless way he had hurled them both at the
unknown.

Malenfant, Malenfant, what have you done?

A scream tore from the forest.

Emma bundled up her parachute cloth and ran back the way she had come.


On her bed of dead leaves, Sally was sitting up. With her good arm she held her
kid to her chest. Maxie was crying again, but Sally's face was empty, her eyes
dry.

Uneasy, Emma dumped the parachute cloth. In the seeping rain, she got to her
knees and embraced them both. 'It's all right.'

The kid seemed to calm, sandwiched between the two women.

But Sally pushed her away. 'How can you say that? Nothing's right.' Her voice
was eerily level.

Emma said carefully, 'I don't think they mean us any harm... Not any more.'

'Who?'

'The hominids.'

'I saw them,' Sally insisted.

'Who?'

'Ape-men. They were here. I just opened my eyes and there was this face over me.
It was squat, hairy. Like a chimp.'

Then not like the hominids out on the plain, Emma thought, wondering. Was there
more than one kind of human-ape, running around this strange, dreamy forest?

'It was going through my pockets,' Sally said. 'I just opened my eyes and looked
right in its face. I yelled. It stood up and ran away.'

'It stood up? Chimps don't stand upright. Not habitually... Do they?'

'What do I know about chimps?'

'Look, the - creatures - out there on the plain don't sound like that
description.'

'They are ape-men.'