"Follett, James - Earthsearch 00 - Mindwarp" - читать интересную книгу автора (Follett James)

broad line, and starting sketching quickly, using bold
strokes. He drew the outline of the head first, full face,
and added the eyes in the centre of the head. Father Gilith
leaned forward. Remarkable. Truly remarkable. Even adults
rarely realised that the eyes are actually located on the
head's centre-line; they usually drew them too high. Also the
boy had captured his own hollow-eyed expression with
astonishing accuracy.
After a minute Ewen had completed the rest of the features
and selected the tablet's colour palette. But instead of
adding garish flesh tones like most children, he filled in
the background with a blue wash. He gave the tablet back.
Father Gilith hoped his astonishment didn't show. The sketch
was an amazing likeness. It was a plain picture without great
detail or expression although the hair looked untidy, but
what detail the boy had shown was sufficient. The blue wash
background puzzled him, but there was no blacking-in of the
face or other additions that indicated a disturbed state of
mind. One child that morning had drawn herself in a cage.
`That's a remarkable likeness of you, Ewen,' said Father
Gilith admiringly. He was not supposed to ask questions about
the children's pictures but he couldn't help inquiring, `But
why the blue background?'
`It's the inside of a beautiful blue dome,' said Ewen
simply.
The man smiled. Only a kid could think that something as
alien as a blue dome could be beautiful.
`And your hair looks ruffled.'
`That's because there's something wrong with the dome's
air-conditioning so it keeps getting blown about.'
Father Gilith threw his head back and laughed. Among the
boy's many qualities was a delightful sense of humour. But,
of course, there was a definite hint of fun in those intense
blue eyes that were regarding him with great seriousness.
There were several more tests that Ewen solved without
hesitation or difficulty although the last one, arranging
coloured squares to match on the six sides of a plastic cube,
took him the longest. 210 seconds according to the stopwatch
display set into Father Gilith's desk. But still a record.
The technician took the cube and beamed. `Excellent, Ewen.
Now sit back in your chair and keep your head still just for
a few moments.'
Ewen did as he was told. Father Gilith touched a control
on his desk. The boy felt a sharp buzz in his head that was
gone before he could even wince.
An usher entered the room. `Thank you, Ewen,' said Father
Gilith. `That is all for the moment. The usher will take you
back to your mother.'
Ewen stood and experienced a moment's dizziness. He
noticed that his badge had changed from bright blue to bold