"Davis, Jerry - Elko the Potter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Jerry)

surrounding him. The ring of lights from above seemed to be
mounted on a ceiling. He was in a room!
The water drained quickly and left him splayed in dismay on a
cold metal floor. He took a breath and sat up, wincing with the
pain and stiffness. Slowly, carefully, he got to his feet and
shuffled back and forth, looking at the metal and wondering how
he'd arrived here. "Hello?" he said. His voice echoed with a
ringing quality. There was no response, so he stood and patiently
waited.
A round hole opened in the ceiling and a ladder dropped into
view. A strangely-dressed man climbed down and spoke to him with a
thick accent. "I am a friend," he said. "Nothing here will hurt
you."
Elko looked him up and down, seeing finely woven cloth of
thread so thin you could barely see it, and sandals that covered
all of the feet in a black shell like a foot-sized dung beetle.
The man's face and smile were oddly disconcerting, and his eyes
were a watery green. Without a doubt, this was a god. Which god,
Elko had no idea --- but definitely a god. "I am your humble
slave," Elko said.
"No, you are my friend. You will understand in time. Come
with me."
With difficulty and fear, Elko followed the god up the
ladder.

#

They jabbed brightly-polished metal thorns in his arms, which
oddly enough brought pleasant waves of relief from the pain in his
joints and hands. In four days, they told him, the pain would be
gone forever. In the mean time they had provided him with a large
rectangular room in a building that seemed to be so big it went on
forever, and in this room one whole wall was fashioned out of the
purest crystal. Through it he could see a land lush with green
grass and gnarled trees, rolling hills, and a reassuring blue sky.
Black roads painted with broken yellow lines crossed the
landscape. Graceful buildings bigger than any he'd ever seen
thrust up out of the ground toward the sky, so skillfully crafted
they brought tears to his eyes.
He sat on a soft, high bed and watched as brightly-colored,
wheeled machines raced at astonishing speeds along the black
roads. Machines also flew through the air, some close and slow,
some very far away and traveling very fast. Some of these left
long, thin, straight clouds behind them, and as Elko watched these
clouds grew fat and translucent and then drifted away.
A smiling, brown-skinned woman and the man who'd first
greeted him came to visit and asked how he was adjusting. Elko had
no idea what they meant by this, but he told them how grateful he
was for the wardrobe of fine, new clothes. They asked him if he
would like to learn their language. He said, "Yes, I would be