"Nicola Griffith - Ammonite" - читать интересную книгу автора (Griffith Nicola)

Marghe felt sick. She would be alone down there, unsupported, faced on all sides
by hostile Company personnel. It was going to be Beaver all over again, but worse,
much worse. And it was too late to back out. She had swallowed that softgel, she
was here in the dirty section, Section D. She was committed. She gripped the
worktable, whether to hold herself upright or stop herself from smashing something
she did not know.
тАЬIтАЩm sorry,тАЭ Hiam said again.
тАЬI needed them,тАЭ Marghe whispered. Alone with all those Company technicians.
And Mirrors. Dear god.
Hiam tilted her head to one side and was suddenly all brisk physician again.
тАЬNow, I need to know how youтАЩre feeling. Have you noticed any adverse effects yet
from the FN-17? My readings indicate elevated blood pressure and a slight rise in
temperature.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩm angry.тАЭ And scared.
тАЬIтАЩve taken that into account.тАЭ
Marghe closed her eyes, monitoring her respiration rate, heartbeat, blood flow,
oxygen levels. тАЬThere is some impairment, yes.тАЭ She felt a little dizzy. тАЬWhat can I
expect?тАЭ
тАЬThe usual features of fever: dizziness, nausea, headache. IтАЩve seen worse. Drink
plenty of water, and rest. IтАЩll cut visual monitoring if you like, but IтАЩd prefer to keep
audio.тАЭ
тАЬYou said there was no danger.тАЭ
тАЬFN-17 by itself isnтАЩt going to do you any lasting damage, but fevers are always
unpredictable. ItтАЩs just a precaution.тАЭ
тАЬHow long will it last?тАЭ
тАЬHard to say. Twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours.тАЭ
She would be well enough, then, when Eagan arrived. тАЬThanks.тАЭ
Sara nodded and switched off. Marghe called up the language program she had
worked on aboard Terragin. The root language spoken on Jeep derived from
twenty-first-century Earth English, with some evidence of a secondary tongue based
on Spanish. SEC and Company had given her access to their data bases, and she
had selected a dozen of what she considered might be the most important dialects.
She had studied them intently, finding peculiarities that she could trace but not
explain. Several words had their root in the Zapotec spoken only by the inhabitants
of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, generations ago. And there were some
phrase constructions only to be found in Basque, or Welsh. One dialect had a seven
percent incidence of ancient Greek. During the tedious voyage aboard Terragin she
had amused herself thinking up improbable hypotheses to fit the available data.
Now she put aside the question of origins for another time. The population of
Jeep was small, estimated at under one million, and its people lived in small groups,
each with its own richly varied dialect. She had three days to familiarize herself with
as many as possible.
After four hours her head was aching too badly to continue.
She turned everything off and silence swallowed her. The light hurt her eyes. She
drank some water and lay down.
тАЬLights, off.тАЭ The dark and quiet made her dizzy. тАЬLights, low.тАЭ She staggered
back to her screen, commed Hiam. тАЬMy head hurts.тАЭ
Hiam glanced off-screen, nodded to herself. тАЬYour feverтАЩs high, but nothing to
worry about.тАЭ She gave Marghe a crooked grin. тАЬYou look drunk.тАЭ
тАЬI feel it.тАЭ