"Alan Dean Foster - Batrachian" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html




BATRACHIAN

Metamorphosis is a marvel of nature that's always intrigued me. Bid when I was a kid, and still does
today. It takes many forms, not always that of caterpillar into a butterfly. The thought of beginning life in
one body and ending it in something inconceivably different is hard for us humans to imagine, starting and
ending as we do with essentially the same shell. I tried to deal with certain aspects of metamorphosis in a
book called Nor Crystal Tears, which opens with the line "It's hard to be a larva."

Arthur C. Clarke stretched the concept in the classic: Childhood's End. Eric-Frank Russell took a
different approach in his novella Metamorphosite. I wonder if the author of the book Cocoon ever read
that story.

You take a familiar concept and run it into something; common and everyday, and sometimes you get a
story.



"Forget it, man. You'll never get near her."

Shelby moved a pawn two squares forward, trying to protect his king. "Every guy in the building's tried,
and few of the chicks, too."

Troy advanced his knight, and one of his friend's bishops was removed from the board. Shelby frowned
at this development.

"I can imagine they have. Immature jocks, most 'em. I'll bet you and I are the only two grad students in
the whole complex. She's just waiting for someone with a little maturity to come along, that's all."

Shelby reached toward his remaining bishop, thought better of it, and returned to studying the board.
"Sure she is. Bet you can't get inside her door."

"What'll you bet?"

"Dinner for two at Willy's."

"Done. The important thing is, is it worth getting inside her dooR?"

His friend nudged a castle sideways, looked satisfied. "I've seen her going out. It's worth it. Believe me,
it's worth it."

"What does she look like?"

"Different. Exotic. Dresden china stained dark. She's a little bitty thing, but something about her
intimidates the hell out of me, even at a distance. I'd go up to her and stammer till my teeth fell out.
Wouldn't know the first thing to say."