"Geoffrey A. Landis - Interlulde at the Circus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Landis Geoffrey A)

was awful!"
"Londinium?"
"They tried to catch me--I think they wanted to eat me! So I ran away, back into the past. I tried to find
people who spoke English, but nobody did. It was like the whole world had gone daft while I was gone.
It was awful, just awful." He stopped abruptly, as if he'd suddenly run out of things to say.
"I see." Jill looked at him. "I think I understand now. It was something similar for me. I invented the time
machine--"
"You lie," he said, confidently. "Darius Aquila invented it, even I know that. It was written up in all the
broadsides."
"Maybe he did." She laughed. "But in my time, it was me. They all said it was impossible, but I did it. I
did! I did all the cautious little experiments. Hamsters, rabbits, yesterday's headlines and tomorrow's
stock market quotations. It all went perfectly. So I figured, what the hell, and went to see the crowning of
Charlemagne. Just a spur of the moment thing. Well, it was not quite the spectacle you read about in the
history books. For one thing, the crown wasn't gold at all, it was brass. Even I could see that. And he
was a short, ugly man, and he stank like a dead pig. Everybody in the whole land stank."
"The coronation of who?"
"It doesn't matter. With the amount of jumps we've made between us, he never existed anyway. And
when I got home, everybody spoke French."
"French? Hmmp. Whoever this prince was, I never heard of him, so he couldn't have been very im--"
Ciam stopped in mid-sentence. A nearly naked man, hairless across his entire body, walked with a
long-legged stride through the crowd. He was half a head taller than the tallest person in the crowd, and
his skin was tinged faintly greenish. Jardes gasped. "What--"
"Another time traveler!"
"But--"
She grabbed his arm. "Come on!" She dragged him across the plaza. "Hello? Hey, you! Hello?"
The man stopped, turning to stare coldly down at her. "Glozrnitz yrrebszal?"
Jardes pulled her back. "Jill, do you see the gills? He's not human!"
As the green man paused a centurion caught up with him and pulled at his arms, gibbering in Vulgate. The
creature picked him up with one hand and tossed him easily across the plaza.
She shook her head. "He must be from the future. The far future. More evolution. Maybe bioengineered
to live on another planet! Ciam, maybe they've found the solution to our problem!" She looked up at
him. "Sprekken zee Doitsh? Vann fone sint zee?" She paused. No response. "Parlay voo Fransay?
Ah-bley Espanyol?"
The creature made a gesture with his hand. The crowd stayed back, cautious. In the distance a group of
centurions began to press their way through, swords drawn. "Gzingnot korr! Korr!"
She took a deep breath, and, speaking very slowly, said "When. Are. You. From? Can. You. Help. Us?
Please."
The being spat on the ground. "Korr! Gzirlnorl korr!" He gestured again, this time with an almost human
shrug. Half a dozen centurions arrived, pushing the two back and warily forming a rough circle around the
giant. The being shrugged again and touched a medallion hanging around its neck.
The circle was empty.
After the centurions had dispersed, muttering about the rude, barbarian ways of foreigners, Jill turned
back to Ciam. He was still staring, open mouthed, at the spot the giant had stood. She spoke calmly, as if
nothing had interrupted them.
"I take it you're a historian?"
"Huh? Oh." He focussed his eyes back on her. "A histographer? Of course I'm a histographer. Clearly,
no? Who else would wish to visit the past? Are you not also?"
"No," she said. "I'm a physicist."
"A physician?"
"No, a physicist."