"Greg Egan - Oceanic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Egan Greg)

lose track of its position, especially if you were trying to take it somewhere it hadn't been
before.
I shouted back our coordinates, and the time. I was fairly confident that I had them down to
the nearest hundred microradians, and few hundred tau.
"That can't be right! Can I approach? Let our launches talk?"
I hesitated. It had been drummed into me for as long as I could remember that if I ever found
myself alone on the water, I should give other vessels a wide berth unless I knew the people on
board. But Beatrice was with me, and if someone needed help it was wrong to refuse them.
"All right!" I stopped dead, and waited for the stranger to close the gap. As the launch drew
up beside me, I was surprised to see that the passenger was a young man. He looked about
Bartholomew's age, but he'd sounded much older.




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We didn't need to tell the launches what to do; proximity was enough to trigger a chemical
exchange of information. The man said, "Out on your own?"
"I'm traveling with my brother and his friends. I just went ahead a bit."
That made him smile. "Sent you on your way, did they? What do you think they're getting up
to, back there?" I didn't reply; that was no way to talk about people you didn't even know. The
man scanned the horizon, then spread his arms in a gesture of sympathy. "You must be feeling left
out."
I shook my head. There was a pair of binoculars on the floor behind him; even before he'd
called out for help, he could have seen that I was alone.
He jumped deftly between the launches, landing on the stern bench. I said, "There's nothing
to steal." My skin was crawling, more with disbelief than fear. He was standing on the bench in
the starlight, pulling a knife from his belt. The details -- the pattern carved into the handle,
the serrated edge of the blade -- only made it seem more like a dream.
He coughed, suddenly nervous. "Just do what I tell you, and you won't get hurt."
I filled my lungs and shouted for help with all the strength I had; I knew there was no one
in earshot, but I thought it might still frighten him off. He looked around, more startled than
angry, as if he couldn't quite believe I'd waste so much effort. I jumped backward, into the
water. A moment later I heard him follow me.
I found the blue glow of the launches above me, then swam hard, down and away from them,
without wasting time searching for his shadow. Blood was pounding in my ears, but I knew I was
moving almost silently; however fast he was, in the darkness he could swim right past me without
knowing it. If he didn't catch me soon he'd probably return to the launch and wait to spot me when
I came up for air. I had to surface far enough away to be invisible -- even with the binoculars.
I was terrified that I'd feel a hand close around my ankle at any moment, but Beatrice was
with me. As I swam, I thought back to my Drowning, and Her presence grew stronger than ever. When
my lungs were almost bursting, She helped me to keep going, my limbs moving mechanically, blotches
of light floating in front of my eyes. When I finally knew I had to surface, I turned face-up and
ascended slowly, then lay on my back with only my mouth and nose above the water, refusing the
temptation to stick my head up and look around.
I filled and emptied my lungs a few times, then dived again.
The fifth time I surfaced, I dared to look back. I couldn't see either launch. I raised
myself higher, then turned a full circle in case I'd grown disoriented, but nothing came into