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

Tarlan started jeering. `Stupid! Stupid! My brother's
stupid!'
Kally rounded on her youngest. Tarlan saw trouble looming.
He sat back in his chair and clamped his mouth shut, swinging
his legs in sulky annoyance.
Tears prickled Ewen's eyes. That he could remember nothing
of the interview frightened him. Even the interviewer's face
was lost in a strange fog. He could remember the blue dome
but that was a part of his recurring dream. `Honestly,
mother... I can't remember anything.'
Kally saw how upset Ewen was and wanted to put her arms
around him, but any more displays of motherly affection would
only make Tarlan worse. If she wasn't absolutely even-handed
in her treatment of the two boys, Tarlan could become even
more of a monster than he already was.
She stood abruptly and the wrinkles smoothed out of her
elegant bodysuit. She looked around the hall. There were now
half the numbers of parents and their offspring present that
there had been when they had arrived. `This is ridiculous.
Come on. We're going home.'
An usher blocked the revolving doors. He gestured to
Ewen's badge. The stripes had started flashing as the boy had
approached the exit holding Kally's hand.
`I'm sorry, but you can't leave yet,' said the usher, his
eyes appraising the hologram flames that danced on the young
woman's bodysuit.
`We've been here longer than anyone,' Kally protested.
`Surely my guardian angel can arrange another appointment?'
She made a move to push past but the usher stood his ground.
`I'm very sorry, but you cannot leave yet. Please take a
seat. I'm sure you won't have long to wait.'
They waited another hour with Tarlan getting so difficult
that Kally was sorely tempted to break Arama's strict taboos
against violence by smacking him. By now the hall was almost
empty and the slightest scrape of a chair produced
intimidating echoes.
Ewen spotted a fair-haired girl about his own age. She was
playing an imaginary game that involved hopping up and down
the aisle on one leg. She chanted an old skipping rhyme under
her breath as she hopped along the aisle:

Outdoors! Outdoors!
Full of fire and fear,
Outdoors! Outdoors!
Where sinners disappear!

Ewen noticed that her badge was striped like his. She was
aware that he was watching her but chose to ignore him.

Outdoors! Outdoors!