"Tim Lebbon - The Origin Of Truth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lebbon Tim)

"Don't talk like that!" Doug said.

"It's true!"

"Yes," he replied weakly, "but not тАж in front of Gemma."

"Why is nobody helping him?" his daughter asked without conviction. She was
only ten, but she had learned a lot over the past few days. Like sometimes you
just can't help people. If they can't help themselves тАж and against this, no
one could тАж then it's best to leave them and forget about them, pretend that
they never were.

In minutes, this man they were watching from afar would no longer exist, and
hours later the same thing would be happening right where they were.

As the traffic moved off Doug heard his daughter turn up the air release valve
on the second cylinder. He took one last glance at the TV screens and saw
why.

The picture was flickering and spinning as the nanos started work on the
helicopter.




┬╖┬╖┬╖┬╖┬╖


Half an hour later they edged out of the city, along with what seemed like a
million other people. Doug was unsure as to why the countryside seemed to
offer any better protection from what was soon to come. It was survival
instinct, he supposed, an urge to flee that was perhaps a racial hangover from
all the wars and ethnic conflicts there had been down through the centuries.
As children his grandparents had been evacuated to families they did not know
to live lives they could not understand, and now he was subjecting his wife
and daughter to the same thing. Leaving what they knew for what they did not.
Except in this case, there was no escaping the reason for their flight. No
running from what couldтАФand wouldтАФbe everywhere. May as well try to leave
gravity behind.
But he had to do something. There was no argument. There was always a chance.

He kept in the fast lane of the motorway doing little more than twenty miles
per hour. His right ankle was aching where he had it tensed on the gas pedal,
yearning to press it down and lay out more miles between them and the city.
Other cars tried to dart in and out when spaces became available, and there
were more than a few fender benders. Normally motorists would stop and help.
Now they simply slowed down, joined forces temporarily to shove the bumped
cars aside with their own, and went on their way.

It was a scorching summer day. Everyone had their windows up. Doug caught the