"Frank Herbert - Destination Void 3 The Lazarus Effect" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

around Duque. He coughed, too, choking on hot, thick dust. Someone nearby
gasped: "I've got Vata. Help me. We must save her."

Duque sensed a stillness in Ellie. She wasn't moaning anymore. He could not
feel the rise and fall of her breathing. Duque opened his mouth and spoke the
two words he knew best:

"Ma. Hot, Ma. Ma."

Someone right beside him said: "Who's that?"

"Hot, Ma," Duque said.

Hands touched him and hauled him away from Ellie. A voice next to his ear said:
"It's a child. He's alive."

"Bring him!" someone called between coughs. "We've got Vata."

Duque felt himself passed from hand to hand through an opening into a dimly
lighted place. His one good eye saw through a thinner dust haze the glitter of
tiny lights, shiny surfaces and handles. He wondered if this could be the out
where Ma went but there was no sign of Ma, only many people crowded into a small
space. Someone directly in front of him held a large naked infant. He knew
about infants because Ma sometimes brought them from out and cared for them,
cooing over them and letting Duque touch them and pet them. Infants were soft
and nice. This infant looked larger than any Duque had ever seen but he knew
she was only an infant -- those fat features, that still face.

The air pressure changed, popping in Duque's ears. Something began to hum.
Just when Duque was deciding to come out of his fears and join in this warm
closeness of flesh, three gigantic explosions shook all of them, sending their
enclosed space tumbling.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" the explosions came one on top of the other.

People began extricating themselves from the tumble of flesh. A foot touched
Duque's face and was withdrawn.

"Careful of the little ones," someone said.

Strong hands lifted Duque and helped him open his eye. A pale masculine face
peered at him -- a wide face with deeply set brown eyes. The man spoke. "I've
got the other one. He's no beauty but he's alive."

"Here, give him to me," a woman said.

Duque found himself pressed close to the infant. A woman's arms held them both,
flesh to flesh, warmth to warmth. A sense of reassurance swept through Duque
but it was cut off immediately when the woman spoke. He understood her words!
He did not know how he understood but the meanings were there unfolding as her