"James Patrick Kelly - Dividing the Sustain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

тАЬThere are always secrets.тАЭ Her hand rested on the shelf of her belly. тАЬCome
down to my cabin,тАЭ she said. тАЬHe wants to see you.тАЭ

****

Zola had been right, Been thought. The common room of Ilona QuellanтАЩs cabin was
a showcase for the creative-discomfort style of interior design. Her deckscape
pitched and changed levels without warning, but at least it didnтАЩt move. Panels of
varying solidity slowly dripped from the overhead or melted back into the
deckscape. They were not hard to avoid, but the point was that they had to be
avoided. Mobile floodlights crawled across the overhead and down the bulkheads.
The furniture was snug enough: a wide particolored couch, a scatter of low and high
chairs. Three hutches, a food prep bay, and a head opened onto the common room.
The hatch to each of the sleep hutches was a lightboard showing scenes from old
3D vids or alien landscapes. They rotated ninety degrees at random intervals, so that
Been had to lean over and cock his head to make sense of them. Been knew that
research showed that people who moved into a challenging environment showed
measurable gains in intelligence and lived years and even decades longer without
needing to be recast. But he had no interest in spending his life fighting his way
through an obstacle course every night just to climb into bed.

However, he could put up with it for a couple of weeks, assuming the Zinks
had estimated planetfall accurately. тАЬItтАЩs an amazing place you have here,тАЭ he said.

Ilona sprawled on the couch with two pillows under her head and one between
her legs. She had changed into a pair of loose silk pajamas, the top of which crept
up her belly, showing a grin of white skin.

тАЬI used to be beautiful,тАЭ she said.

Been didnтАЩt hesitate. тАЬYou still are.тАЭ

тАЬPlease.тАЭ She pushed a hand at him wearily. тАЬThrow away the script if youтАЩre
going to live here.тАЭ

тАЬAm I going to live here?тАЭ He stepped around a tumescent panel and pulled
up a chair to face her.

тАЬHe said to me, тАШIтАЩll give you the stars for a wedding present.тАЩ And I was too
young to realize that was one of the oldest scripts ever written.тАЭ

тАЬHow old are you now?тАЭ

She considered. тАЬA hundred and forty-one? Forty-two? No, forty-one.тАЭ

тАЬAnd never been recast?тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm pregnant, Been. IтАЩve been pregnant for twenty-nine months. ThatтАЩs all
the recasting I can stand for the moment.тАЭ She nodded at the meter-wide yellow
panel beginning to dribble from the overhead; in an hour they wouldnтАЩt be able to