"Foster, Alan Dean - Flinx 1 - For Love of Mother-Not" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

She shrugged slightly. "Why? We've gone to a lot of trouble to come as far as we have. You might have argued with me about turning back."
"No," Flinx said quietly, "I wouldn't have done that"
"I didn't think so. You're almost as determined to see this through as I am, and at least as crazy."
She stared up at him, and he stared back. Nothing more needed to be said.
"I vote no."
Nyassa-lee was firm in her disagreement. She sat on one side of the table and gazed expectantly at her colleagues. Brora was thoughtfully inspecting the fingernails of his left hand, while Haithnesstoyed with her eyelashes.
"Really," the tall black woman murmured to her compatriot, "to show such reluctance at this stage is most discouraging, Nyassa-lee." Her fingers left her eyes. "We may never have the chance to manipulate another subject as promising as this Twelve. Time and events conspire against us. You know that as well as I."
"I know." The shorter woman leaned forward in the chair and gazed between her legs at the floor. Cracks showed between the panels; the building had been assembled in haste. "I'm just not convinced it's worth the risk."
"What risk?" Haithness demanded to know. "We've still seen nothing like a demonstration of threatening power. Quite the contrary. I'd say. Certainly the subject had the opportunity to display any such abilities. It's evident he does not possess them, or he would doubtless have employed them against us. Instead, what did we see? Knife." - She made it sound disgusting as well as primitive. - "She's right, you know." Brora rarely spoke, preferring to let the two senior scientists do most of the arguing. He stepped in only when he was completely confident of his opinion.
"We don't want another repeat of the girl," Nyassa-lee said. "The society couldn't stand another failure like that."
"Which is precisely why we must pursue this last opportunity to its conclusion," Haithness persisted.
"We don't know that it represents our last opportunity."
"Oh, come on, Nyassa-lee." Haithness pushed back her chair and stood; she began pacing nervously back and forth. Bebind her, lights shone cold green and blue from the consoles hastily assembled. "Even if there are other subjects of equal potential out there, we've no guarantee that any of us will be around much longer to follow up on them."
"I can't argue with that," Nyassa-lee admitted. "Nor can I argue this Number Twelve's statistical promise. It's just those statistics which frighten me."
"Frighten you?" Haithness stopped pacing and looked over at her companion of many hard years. The tall woman was surprised. She had seen Nyassa-lee wield a gun with the cold-blooded efficiency of a qwarm. Fear seemed foreign to her. "But why? He's done nothing to justify such fear."
"Oh, no?" Nyassa-lee ticked off her points on the fingers of one hand. "One, his statistical potential is alarming. Two, he's sixteen, on the verge of full maturity. Three, he could cross into that at any time."
"The girl," Brora pointed out, "was considerably younger."
"Agreed," said Nyassa-lee, "but her abilities were precocious. Her advantage was surprise. This Number Twelve is developing slowly but with greater potential. He may be the kind who responds to pressure by reaching deeper into himself."
"Maybe," Brora said thoughtfully, "but we have no proof of it, nor does his profile predict anything of the sort."
"Then how do you square that," she responded, "with the fact that he has by himself-"
"He's not by himself," Brora interrupted her. "That woman from the lodge was helping him out on the lake." "Was helping him. She didn't help him get to that point.
He followed us all the way to that lake on his own, with- out any kind of external assistance. To me that indicates the accelerated development of a Talent we'd better be- ware of."
"All the more reason," Haithness said angrily, slapping the table with one palm, "why we must push ahead with our plan!"
"I don't know," Nyassa-lee murmured, unconvinced.
"Do you not agree," Haithness countered, forcing her- self to restrain her temper, "that if the operation is a success we stand a good chance of accomplishing our goal as regards outside manipulation of the subject?"
"Possibly," Nyassa-lee conceded.
"Why just 'possibly'? Do you doubt the emotional bond?"
"That's not what concerns me. Suppose, just suppose, that because his potential is still undeveloped, he has no conscious control of it?"
"What are you saying?" Brora asked.
She leaned intently over the table. "With the girl Mahnahmi we knew where we stood, once she'd revealed herself. Unfortunately, that knowledge came as a surprise
to us, and too late to counteract. We've no idea where we stand vis-a-vis this subject's Talents. Suppose that, despite the emotional bond, pressure and fear conspire to release his potential regardless of his surface feelings? Statistically, the subject is a walking bomb that may not be capable or mature enough to control itself. That's what worries me, Haithness. The emotional bond may be sufficient to control his conscious self. The unpredictable part of him may react violently in spite of it."
"We cannot abandon our hopes and work on so slim a supposition, one that we have no solid facts to support," Haithness insisted. "Besides, the subject is sixteen. If any- thing, he should have much more control over himself than the girl did."
"I know, I know," Nyassa-lee muttered unhappily. "Everything you say is true, Haithness, yet I can't help worrying. In any case. I'm outvoted."
"That you are," the tall woman said after a questioning glance at Brora. "And if Cruachan were here with us, you know he'd vote to proceed too."
"I suppose." Nyassa-lee smiled thinly. "I worry too much. Brora, are you sure you can handle the implant?"
He nodded. "I haven't done one in some time, but the old skills remain. It requires patience more than anything else. You remember. As to possible unpredictable results, failure, well"-he smiled-"we're all condemned already. One more little outrage perpetrated against society's archaic laws can't harm us one way or the other if we fail here."
Off in a nearby corner. Mother Mastiff sat in a chair, hands clasped in her lap, and listened. She was not bound. There was no reason to tie her, and she knew why as well as her captors. There was nowhere to run. She was in excellent condition for a woman her age, but she had had a good view of the modest complex of deceptive stone and wood structures as the skimmer had landed. Thousands of square kilometers of damp, hostile forest lay between the place she had been brought to and the familiar confines of Drallar. She was no more likely to steal a vehicle than she was to turn twenty again.
She wondered what poor Flinx was going through. That had been him, out on the boat on the lake far to the south. How he had managed to trace her so far she had no idea. At first, her concern had been for herself. Now that she had had ample opportunity to listen to the demonic trio arguing in front of her-for demonic she was certain they were-she found herself as concerned for the fate of her adopted son as for her own. If she was lost, well, she had had a long and eventful life. Better perhaps that her brave Flinx lose track of her than stumble into these monsters again.
One of the trio, the short, toad-faced man, had spoken of "adjusting" her and of "implants." That was enough to convince her to prepare for something worse than death. Many of their words made no sense to her. She still had no idea who the people were, much less where they had come from or the reasons for their actions. They never spoke to her, ignoring her questions as well as her curses.
Actually, they did not treat her as a human being at all, but rather as a delicate piece of furniture. Their current conversation was the most peculiar yet, for one of them was expressing fear of her boy. She could not imagine why. True, Flinx had tamed a dangerous animal, that horrid little flying creature, but that was hardly a feat to in- spire fear in such people. They knew he occasionally had the ability to sense what others were feeling. Yet far from fearing such erratic and minor talents, these people discussed them as if they were matters of great importance.
None of which explained why they'd kidnapped her. If their real interest lay with her boy, then why hadn't they kidnapped him? The whole affair was too complicated a puzzle for her to figure out. Mother Mastiff was not a stupid woman, and her deficiency in formal education did not blunt her sharp, inquiring mind; still she could not fathom what was happening to her, or why.
She let her attention drift from the argument raging across the table nearby to study the room to which she had been brought. Most of the illumination came from the impressive array of electronics lining the walls. Everything she could see hinted of portability and hurried installation. She had no idea as to the purpose of the instrumentation, but she had been around enough to know that such devices were expensive. That, and the actions of the people who had abducted her, hinted at an organization well stocked with money as well as malign intentions.
"I'm not even sure," Nyassa-lee was saying, "that the subject realizes how he's managed to follow us this far."
"There is likely nothing mysterious about it," Haithness argued. "Remember that he is a product of an intensely competitive, if primitive, environment. Urban youths grow up fast when left to their own resources. He may not have enjoyed much in the way of a formal education, but he's been schooled in the real world-something we've had to master ourselves these past years. And he may have had some ordinary, quite natural luck."
"These past years," Brora was mumbling sadly. "Years that should have been spent prying into the great mysteries of the universe instead of learning how to make contacts with and use of the criminal underworld."
"I feel as wasted as you do, Brora," the tall woman said soothingly, "but vindication lies at hand."
"If you're both determined to proceed, then I vote that we begin immediately." Nyassa-lee sighed.
"Immediately with what?" a crotchety voice demanded. For some reason, the question caused the trio to respond, whereas previous attempts to draw their attention had failed miserably.
Nyassa-lee left the table and approached Mother Mastiff. She tried to adopt a kindly, understanding expression, but was only partly successful. "We're scientists embarked on a project of great importance to all mankind. I'm sorry we've been forced to inconvenience you, but this is all necessary. I wish you were of a more educated turn of mind and could understand our point of view. It would make things easier for you."
"Inconvenienced!" Mother Mastiff snorted. "Ye pluck me out of my house and haul me halfway across the planet. That's inconvenience? I call it something else." Her bluster faded as she asked, "What is it you want with my boy Flinx?"