"David Brin - Just a Hint" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brin David)

Federman shrugged. His gaze remained fixed on the skeleton in the yard.


The scientist with no nose looked out over his city. For a long time he had fretted
and fumed beneath the great dish antenna; then he had gone for a walk around the
edge of the research center compound.
Years ago these hills had been suburbs. Now factories belched smoke into the air
on all sides. The sight cheered him slightly. He could never look at such an obvious
sign of progress and prosperity for long and stay in a black mood.
There were so many other things to be proud of, too.
After the invention of atomic weapons, before he was born, his parents'
generation had finally found the motivation to do the obvious and abolish war. The
method had been there all along, but no one had been sufficiently motivated before.
Now the fruits of peace were multiplying throughout the world.
Two automobiles for everyone! Fast, efficient stratospheric transport!
Quick-foods easily dispensed from fluorocarbon-driven aerosol cans! The licentious
luxury of lead-lined dinnerware!
All of this was good. Peace and prosperity.
But the Plague had then come among them, soon after the last war, and now
affected almost everyone. Lung ailments, skin cancer... that horrible sickness that
struck the mercury and bismuth mines... the death of the fisheries.
Huge sums were spent to find the microorganisms responsible for this rash of
diseases. Some were found, but no germs yet that could account for the wide range
of calamities. Some scientists were now suggesting a pathogen smaller than a virus.
Fetham looked up. Gathu. The government representative had followed him
outside.
"I am sorry I shouted," Fetham said slowly. The other being-with-no-nose did the
equivalent, for his species, of a forgiving nod. Fetham gave a handturn of thanks.
"It's just that I was hoping the Others might know something... something that
would help us understand."
Gathu was sympathetic.
"I know, Academician. But honestly, what could they tell us about our
problems--especially biological problems--even if you did succeed in making
contact?"
"If they exist at all, they live on a completely different world, with different body
chemistry. How could they give us knowledge that would help us defeat this
Plague?"
 Fetham performed a gesture that conveyed the meaning of a shrug. His large and
very subtle ears filtered out the brash, ever-present noise of traffic, yet allowed him
to hear the whistling of the wind through the silted, murky sky.
Suddenly he had a totally irrelevant thought.
I wonder where the birds are? They used to be all over this part of the city. I
never noticed that they had gone, until now.
"I suppose," he sighed. "I suppose I was hoping for just a hint..."



AUTHOR'S NOTES
This part of the collection, called Speculation, features three stories of the "what
if" type, where the emphasis is less on plot or characterization or a literary style