"Tony Daniel - Robot's Twilight Companion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Daniel Tony)

тАЬBut thereтАЩs nothing there.тАЭ

тАЬThere will be. We are going to build it.тАЭ
тАЬNo, thereтАЩs no . . . air. No manure. No briar patches.тАЭ

тАЬI know. I understood that from the moment Dobrovnik told me about the offer, and I truly began to
consider what it would involve to actually do it.тАЭ

Henry felt a trickle of sweat down his forehead. Where had that come from? Nell was too far away to
wipe it. He pawed it off, continued down his face with his hand, and kneaded his own shoulder.

тАЬAre you going to accept?тАЭ

тАЬI donтАЩt know. To build a city, practically from scratchтАФitтАЩs the chance of the century for an architect.тАЭ
Nell wiped her tears, sat up straight. тАЬI want you with me, Henry.тАЭ

Did she? Or was she just doing the right thing? What was he, after all, when compared with her art? Had
Nell ever really cared for him at all, except in the abstract? Jesus, he felt like Rick at the end of
Casablanca , letting Ilsa go off with Victor Laszlo. What in GodтАЩs name had gotten into him? Why was
he thinking like this? Was he that jealous of her gift? Of her fucking acclaim? He loved Nell. Heloved
Nell, and he wanted to be with her, too.

But didnтАЩt she know what it would do to him? To his work? The moon. The bone-dead moon.

тАЬI have to think. I donтАЩt know if I can go with you. I have to think.тАЭ

And, as always, Nell knew that it was time to leave him alone and let him do so. She had perfect instincts
about such things. Or perhaps it was art. Henry could never tell the difference as far as Nell was
concerned.
She Hangs Mute and Bright
by Henry Colterman

Blank hole, like a fresh cigarette scar.
I like the stars better; they donтАЩt
care or not care, but the moon
doesnтАЩt care and makes you think
she does. It is the light, I think,
the queered shadows, as subtle as lips,
the tease of incomplete revelation.

I have climbed up to small branches
on full moon nights and pressed
my face to the dark
while the wind chapped my eyes open.
I was without tears,
as empty as an orbit,
but she did not fill me.
She moved on.

She never lived.