"Philip Jose Farmer - Riverworld 2 - The Fabulous Riverboat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

was Burton-would be a link, if thin, to the dead Earth.
And then, as a far-off blurred figure came within the
round of the telescope, Clemens cried out incredulously.
"Livy! Oh, my God! Livy!"
There could be no doubt. Although the features could
not be clearly distinguished, they formed an overwhelm-
ing, not-to-be-denied truth. The head, the hairdo, the
figure and the unmistakable walk (as unique as a finger-
print) shouted out that here was his Earthly wife.
"Livy!" he sobbed. The ship heeled to tack, and he lost
her. Frantically, he swung the end of the scope back and
forth.

Eyes wide, he stomped with his foot on the deck, and he
bellowed, "Bloodaxe! Bloodaxe! Up here! Hurry!"
He swung toward the helmsman and shouted that he
should go back and direct the ship toward the bank.
Grimolfsson was taken aback at first by Clemens'
vehemence. Then he slitted his eyes, shook his head, and
growled out a no.
"I order you to!" Clemens screamed, forgetting that the
helmsman did not understand English. "That's my wife!
Livy! My beautiful Livy, as she was when she was twenty-
five! Brought back from the dead!"
Someone rumbled behind him, and Clemens whirled to
see a blond head with a shorn-off left ear appear on the
level of the deck. Then Erik Bloodaxe's broad shoulders,
massive chest and huge biceps came into view, followed by
pillarlike thighs as he came on up the ladder. He wore a
green-and-black checked towel, a broad belt holding
several chert knives and a holster for his ax. This was of
steel, broadbladed and with an oak handle. It was, as far
as Clemens knew, unique on this planet, where stone and
wood were the only materials for weapons.
He frowned as he looked over the river. He turned to
Clemens and said, "What is it, sma-skitligr? You made me
miscue when you screamed like Thor's bride on her wed-
ding night. I lost a cigar to Toki Njalsson."
He took the ax from its holster and swung it. The sun
glinted off the blue steel. "You had better have a good
reason for disturbing me. I have killed many men for far
less."
Clemens' face was pale beneath the tan, but this time it
was not caused by Erik's threat. He glared, the wind-
ruffled hair, staring eyes and aquiline profile making him
look like a kestrel falcon.
"To hell with you and your ax!" he shouted. "I just saw
my wife, Livy, there on the right bank! I want ... I de-
mand . . . that you take me ashore so I can be with her
again! Oh, God, after all these years, all this hopeless