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

honored."
"We have different methods of teaching than you are used to,"
the dark-skinned woman said. "They are much faster."
"I am humbled by your vast knowledge," he said, hoping this
was appropriate.
"With the language lesson will come knowledge of things you
will need in order to understand this new world. The lesson will
change the way you view things. Do you understand this?"
"I am anxious to understand your new world," he told them.
"You do not object to the lesson, then?"
"I have no objections."
They led him though a maze of carpeted hallways, spent time
in a room called "an elevator" --- which seemed like great magic
to Elko --- and finally to a room full of comfortable beds. They
had him lie down in one and told him to relax.
"This is a machine that will teach you," he was told. They
rolled a metal box over to his bed. The box had numerous colored
lights which looked like captive stars, and a headband that was
attached to it by a long cord.
"We're going to put this on your head," they told him,
showing him the headband. "It will feel odd but it will not hurt
you." When they slipped it over his forehead it made all his
muscles jump, as if he'd been startled. Then sleep came with a
rush.
Through his slumber he dreamed of a stampede of mad oxen
trampling through the farmlands, through the town, through his
very home. They were possessed by the god of oxen, and that god
was furious. The oxen were everywhere, jabbing their horns and
crushing with their hooves. They swept everything away; his home,
his sons, his grandchildren. He heard women crying in anguish.
When he awoke, it was abrupt. He felt dizzy, and his forehead
was damp with cold sweat. He stared up at the boxes with the
colored lights and said, "Computer!" The word, even as he said it,
startled him, and the concept behind it was bizarre. "Microchip!"
he said. "They're made of dirt!" Disoriented as he was, this
fact gave him a spasm of joy.
A great understanding seemed to be trying to catch up to him.
He could feel it coming up from behind, thundering along on a
hundred-thousand mad hooves. Technica! he thought. A church of
science! Truth! Great thought! The understanding swept over him,
trampling him. Crushing him over and over again. Technica
collected the great minds of humanity. They thought he was one of
them. They thought he had invented the wheel! Either the god of
good fortune was in love with him, or the god of practical jokes.
This was a prank of horrible proportions!

#

Elko sat at the table by himself with his plate of gourmet
cafeteria food in front of him, untouched. That day Professor