"Joe Haldeman - Angel of Light" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haldeman Joe)

set it down and wiped my hands.

It would not be a good Christmas present. Perhaps for 'Eid, for Ibriham, when he is old enough to decide
whether he is to be called. A Jewish weapon, he would laugh. I could ask the imam whether to cleanse it
and how.

There were three cardboard folders under the gun, once held together with rubber bands, which were
just sticky lines now. They were full of useless documents about land and banking.

Underneath them, I caught a glimpse of something that looked like pornography. I looked away
immediately, closed my eyes, and asked Mohammed and Jesus for strength. Then I took it out and put it
in the light.

It was in a plastic bag that had stamped on it "nitrogen seal." What a strange word, a tech word from the
old times.

The book inside had the most amazing picture on the front. A man and a woman, both white, embracing.
But the woman is terrified. The man seems only resolute, as he fires a strange pistol at a thing like a giant
squid, green as a plant. The woman's head is uncovered, and at first she seems naked, but in fact her
clothes are simply transparent, like some dancers'. The book is called Thrilling Wonder Stories, and is
dated Summer 1944. That would be 1365, more than a hundred years before Chrislam.

I leafed through the book, fascinated in spite of its carnal and infidel nature. Most of it seemed to be
talesтАФnot religious parables or folk tales, but lies that were made up at the time, for entertainment.
Perhaps there was moral instruction as well. Many of the pictures did show men in situations that were
physically or morally dangerous.

The first story, "The Giant Runt," seemed at first sacrilegious; it was about a man furious with God for
having created him shorter than normal men. But then a magical machine makes everyone else tiny, and
his sudden superiority turns him into a monster. But he sees an opportunity for moral action and redeems
himself. The machine is destroyed, the world is normal again, and God rewards him with love.

Nadia, my second wife, came to the door at the top of the stairs and asked whether I needed help with
anything. "No," I said. "Don't wait up. I have something to study here. A man thing." I shouldn't have said
that. She would be down here after the morning prayer, as soon as I left for work.

I looked at the woman on the cover of the book, so exposed and vulnerable. Perhaps I should destroy it
before Nadia or Miriam were exposed to it. A present for Ibriham? No; he would like it, but it would
lead him away from proper thought.

I put both lanterns on the table, with the book between them, for maximum light. The paper was brown
and the ink, faded. I turned the crumbling pages with care, although I would probably burn the book
before dawn. First I would read as much of it as I could. I composed my mind with prayer, reciting the
Prophet's hadith about the duty of learning.

In 1365 a war was raging all around the world, and various pages took note of this. I think this was only
a year or two before America used nuclear weapons the first time, though I found no mention of them.
(There were several exhortations to "buy bonds," which at first I misread as bombs. Bonds are financial
instruments of some kind.) There were short pieces, evidently presented as truth, about science being
used against the enemies of America. The ones that were not presented as true were more interesting,