"Jay Lake - To Live Forever" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lake Jay)

Port Edward, centuries Later

Gestas settled his great black cloak around his body. It was cold on the
widowтАЩs walk atop DismasтАЩ rented manor house on the ridge west of town. He
watched as Dismas surveyed Port Edward through a brass spyglass. The older
manтАЩs voice was dour. тАЬIn these reduced days, people only dream of electricity, of
clean water. Whereas once we flew between the stars.тАЭ

тАЬThey doubtless had their complaints in those times,тАЭ said Gestas. All he ever
wanted to do was fly between the stars, an impossible choice within the isolation of
the ChildrenтАЩs Compact.

тАЬCertainly. But consider what we have left to work with. We conspire at
metallurgy, to overthrow the world by base means. Not for us the operatic splendor
of high finance or politics.тАЭ

Gestas laughed. тАЬYou just canтАЩt stand a quiet little town.тАЭ

Dismas turned the spyglass in his hands, studying the fading mark of each
fingerprint on the brass barrel. тАЬAs to conspiracy, how old are you, friend Gestas?
When were you born?тАЭ

тАЬYou know I canтАЩt tell you that,тАЭ Gestas said quietly. The question was the
height of rudeness addressed to one of the Lost such as he.

тАЬThe story is always the same.тАЭ Dismas sighed. тАЬBabies vanish as prisoner to
the Children. Once grown, some return as Deadwalkers, others come back more or
less wholeтАФthe Lost. One day you just walked into a tavern or a boat slip and said,
тАШI am a man, sent to live among my people.тАЩтАЭ

Gestas stared at the gardens below, seeing the beginning of his memories in
sharp relief. тАЬтАШI am a man, come to live among men,тАЩ I said to three woman herding
pigs along a path near January Landing. That was my first day, these twelve decades
past.тАЭ

Dismas laid a hand on GestasтАЩ shoulder. тАЬPut away your shame, my friend. I
was born under the light of another sun. I came in the Second Emigration, and I have
seen every midsummer dawn in the centuries since the ChildrenтАЩs Compact. I feel no
older than I did that year. And I would trade all the endless decades to see a son of
mine grow to manhood.тАЭ
 тАЬAt least people of your day had a choice. You could have left.тАЭ Gestas
glanced up at the blue sky, where ships had once sailed to and from their world.

тАЬIt was not that easy, then. It is certainly no easier now. Your complicity in
our conspiracy is simple enoughтАФyou want to leave this place. My memories, the
hard truths in my past, they are why I conspire against the ChildrenтАЩs Compact.тАЭ

****