"Alan Dean Foster - Humanx 2 - Cachalot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

Behind him the town of Rorqual rested stolidly on
the surface. The nearest actual land, the Swinburne
Shoals, lay thirty meters beneath. For all that, the town
sat motionless on the sea. A vast array of centerboards
and crossboards and complex counterjets held it steady
against the rising chop. Held it steady so as to provide
its inhabitants with a semblance of stability, to provide
old Mustapha with a safe place to fish.

The dock was empty now, the catcherboats and
gatherers out working. The long stretch of unsinkable
gray polymer disappeared beneath a warehouse, the
dock being only one of dozens of such supports for the
town.

But there was no counterjet or centerboard to hold
the dock completely motionless. Four meters wide and
equally thick, it bobbed gently to the natural rhythm
of the sea. That was why Mustapha chose to fish from
the dock's end instead of from one of the more stable
outer streets of the town. When he was playing with
the ocean and its occupants, he preferred the feel of
their environment. It was a cadence, a viscous march
that was as much a part of his life as his own heart-
beat.

CACHALOT 3

The rain began to pelt him, running down his long
white hair. He ignored it. The inhabitants of Cachalot's
floating towns had water next to their skin as often as
air. Here near the equator the fat drops were warm,
almost hot on his bare upper chest. They rolled down
from his bald forehead and itched in his drooping mus-
tache.

The pole communicated with his fingers. He lifted it.
A small yellow fish wriggled attractively on the hook,
its four blue eyes staring dully into the unfamiliar me-
dium in which it now found itself.

Mustapha debated whether to unhook it, decided
the fish would serve him better as bait for larger game.
He let the fresh catch drop back into the water. An
electronic caller would have drawn more food fish than
he could have carried, but such a device would have
seemed incongruous functioning in tandem with the
hook and line. Mustapha enjoyed fishing in the tradi-
tional way. He did not fish for food, but for life.