"James P. Hogan - Giants 1 - Inherit The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hogan James P)

way, it'll be too far. What d'you say?" The other stared up in mute despair.
The rockfall, funneling up toward the mouth of the cleft, looked like a
mountain. In the distance beyond towered the ridge, jagged and white in the
glare of the sun. It was impossible.
Koriel allowed his doubts no time to take root. Somehow -- slipping,
sliding, stumbling, and falling -- they reached the entrance to the cleft.
Beyond it, the walls narrowed and curved around to the left, cutting off the
view of the gorge below from where they had come. They climbed higher. Around
them, sheets of raw reflected sunlight and bottomless pits of shadow met in
knife-edges across rocks shattered at a thousand crazy angles. His brain
ceased to extract the concepts of shape and form from the insane geometry of
white and black that kaleidoscoped across his retina. The patterns grew and
shrank and merged and whirled in a frenzy of visual cacophony.
His face crashed against his visor as his helmet thudded into the dust.
Koriel hoisted him to his feet.
"You can do it. We'll see Gorda from the ridge. It'll be all downhill
from there..."
But the figure in red sank slowly to its knees and folded over. The head
inside the helmet shook weakly from side to side. As Koriel watched, the
conscious part of his mind at last accepted the inescapable logic that the
parts beneath consciousness already knew. He took a deep breath and looked
about him.
Not far below, they had passed a hole, about five feet across, cut into
the base of one of the rock walls. It looked like the remnant of some
forgotten excavation -- maybe a preliminary digging left by a mining survey.
The giant stooped, and grasping the harness that secured the backpack to the
now insensible figure at his feet, dragged the body back down the slope to the
hole. It was about ten feet deep inside. Working quickly, Koriel arranged a
lamp to reflect a low light off the walls and roof. Then he removed the
rations from his companion's pack, laid the figure back against the rear wall
as comfortably as he could, and placed the food containers within easy reach.
Just as he was finishing, the eyes behind the visor flickered open.
"You'll be fine here for a while." The usual gruffness was gone from
Koriel's voice. "I'll have the rescue boys back from Gorda before you know
it."
The figure in red raised a feeble arm. Just a whisper came through.
"You -- you tried...Nobody could have..." Koriel clasped the gauntlet
with both hands.
"Mustn't give up. That's no good. You just have to hang on a while."
Inside his helmet the granite cheeks were wet. He backed to the entrance and
made a final salute. "So long, soldier." And then he was gone.
Outside he built a small cairn of stones to mark the position of the
hole. He would mark the trail to Gorda with such cairns. At last he
straightened up and turned defiantly to face the desolation surrounding him.
The rocks seemed to scream down in soundless laughing mockery. The stars above
remained unmoved. Koriel glowered up at the cleft, rising up toward the tiers
of crags and terraces that guarded the ridge, still soaring in the distance.
His lips curled back to show his teeth.
"So -- it's just you and me now, is it?" he snarled at the Universe.
"Okay, you bastard -- let's see you take this round!"