"George Alec Effinger - Bird of Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Effinger George Alec)

Julius Caesar, you'd better do it now. We don't want to have
to listen to your kvetching when you get back.тАЭ
The idea of Julius Caesar and Brutus and Mark Antony's
funeral oration and all that sounded very attractive to
Hartstein, and he considered it for a moment.
тАЬBut if I were you,тАЭ said the Agent, тАЬI'd stick. You can
spend all day in the Library. Caesar's down and dead in a
minute, and then everybody goes to have lunch. The rest of
the day you might as well be window-shopping in the Agency
gift shop, for all the excitement there is.тАЭ
9
 The Bird of Time
by George Alec Effinger


тАЬYou're right. I'll just hang with my original plan.тАЭ
тАЬGood boy,тАЭ said the young woman. тАЬTake the voucher
through the swinging gate, follow the yellow line on the floor,
and see Sergeant Brannick. Have a good time in Alexandria.тАЭ
Like nightfall in the jungle, boredom reappeared with terrible
suddenness on her ordinary face.
тАЬThrough the swinging gate,тАЭ she said. She pushed a
button and a buzzer sounded. Hartstein went through the
gate and followed the yellow line. It went through a small
village of polished desks until it came to an end abruptly, at
the battered oak station of Sergeant Brannick.
тАЬVoucher, please,тАЭ said the sergeant. He was a large man,
as large as the Agent who had sold Hartstein the ticket. He
wore the Agency uniform, decorated with as many ribbons as
the man downstairs had had. It seemed just as odd to
Hartstein that Brannick would be employed here, handling the
routing of tourists. Didn't the Agency need its experienced
personnel in the field, patrolling the freeways of time, fighting
the unimaginable crimes that temporal terrorists would
certainly be plotting against the sleeping citizens of the
present? тАЬVoucher, please,тАЭ said Brannick more loudly.
тАЬSorry,тАЭ said Hartstein. He gave the man the yellow slip,
now bent into a tiny, neat square. тАЬWill the Library be
crowded full of other people from the present when I get
there?тАЭ
Brannick's eyes narrowed. тАЬYou won't see anybody there
except the locals,тАЭ he said.
тАЬOh? Why is that? Why isn't the place crammed like
sardines with us by now?тАЭ
10
 The Bird of Time
by George Alec Effinger


тАЬBecause тАШThe PastтАЩ is an objective concept, and it doesn't