"Kress, Nancy - Wetlands Preserve" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

"The beard feels strangey," Carlo said. It was his latest pet word.

"Oh, it's strangey, all right," Lisa said, and Danilo looked at her.

She fed Carlo and Danilo too (inescapable), read Carlo a story, put him to bed. Danilo watched silently from his chair at the table. After Lisa closed the bedroom door, she said, "Now go. I have work to do."

"Work? Now?"

"All the time, Danilo."

"And you think it does anybody any good, this work? This studying minute details of ecosystems even as the exploiters destroy them out from under you?"

"Probably as much actual good as your 'non-violent confrontations' at Greenpeace."

"I'm not with Greenpeace any more," he said, and something grim in his tone, coming through despite the soft accent, made Lisa look directly at him.

"You're not?"

"No. You're rightЧnon-violent confrontations accomplish nothing substantial. I am with EarthAction now."

"Never heard of them."

"You will," he said, and that tone was there again. "Lissy, I don't have anyplace to stay."

"You're not staying here. See that sofa? That unfolds to create my bedroom, and in another few hours I'll be using it. Bye, Danilo."

He didn't argue. Picking up the knapsack, he moved with his fluid gait toward the door. Watching him, Lisa suddenly remembered that she still had dried mud in her hair from the boat survey, still smelled of swamp and lab. Well, she'd shower later; the reports in her briefcase were too exciting too wait.

She'd already started to work by the time Danilo closed the apartment door.




╖ ╖ ╖ ╖ ╖

"Washington wants even tighter security," Paul said to the assembled Kenton staff, plus the visiting scientists, Washington representatives, and whoever those others were that Lisa couldn't identify. "That's why we have an increased guard. I know all the checkpoints are inconvenient, people, but consider the benefits. We're getting another month of study before any announcement is made and we're overrun with outsiders."

Hal said bluntly, "Could have fooled me. There are already far too many outsiders in the Preserve. It's starting to look like O'Hare Airport out there. At this rate we're going to irreparably damage the ecosystem."

Paul looked embarrassed. People shifted on their chairs, crowded uncomfortably into the too-small break room. Nobody looked directly at the visiting scientists.

"Hal, we appreciate your concerns, but we have to be practical here as well. This is perhaps the single most important event in the history of humankind. You can't really expect it to stay confined to a bunch of academic swamp rats like us."

People laughed obligingly, but the tension wasn't broken.

Paul continued, "We have a full agenda this morning, and a very exciting one, so let'sЧ"

"If you're really trying for tight security," Hal persisted doggedly, "then all these soldiers and checkpoints and cars going in and out isn't exactly the best way to get it. Don't you think the locals, including the local journalists, are going to notice?"