"Barry B. Longyear - The Hangingstone Rat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

тАЬRight now. ItтАЩs rather urgent.тАЭ

тАЬVery well, sir. IтАЩll bring my electric around, shall I?тАЭ
 тАЬThank you.тАЭ

I hobbled up the stairs to the guest room where Nadine had been
staying since the news about Shad. It was smallish, a single window looking
over the garden, pale peach walls, and a single bed with a powder blue
coverlet. Val and her friend were both sitting on the bed. тАЬWalterтАЩs going to
drive us out to the moor,тАЭ I said to Val. тАЬHeтАЩs bringing his car around now.тАЭ

тАЬThank you, Harry,тАЭ said Nadine. тАЬItтАЩs a terrible imposition, I know.тАЭ

тАЬNot at all.тАЭ I debated offering my possible piece of news. False hope
and such. However, it was either tell Nadine now or at Hangingstone Hill.

тАЬHarry, what is it?тАЭ asked Val.

тАЬThere is a possibility,тАЭ I looked at Nadine, тАЬjust a possibility, mind
you, that Guy is still alive.тАЭ As they started to speak all at once I held up my
hands. тАЬA slim chance, but a chance. IтАЩll explain in the car. LetтАЩs get going.тАЭ

As I stood aside, allowing the two cats to run out of the room ahead
of me, I sawтАФmy cautionary probabilities notwithstandingтАФNadine and Val
both had only heard that Shad was still alive.

****

WalterтАЩs car was an MG ground electric, which would have been
cramped had Val and Nadine not been cats. Once we were off the
Alphington Spur headed west on the A 30, Walter and I up front and the
cats on a blanket in back, I turned half around and explained. тАЬIt has to do
with the Vader prangтАФthe mounted scene analyzerтАФat the site. That
particular model is about fifteen centimeters long and a bit more than half a
centimeter thick.тАЭ

тАЬWhat about them?тАЭ asked Val. She knew as much about the purpose
of prangs as I did, but she knew I was after something else.

I turned to Nadine. тАЬThis kind of scene analyzer is arguably the most
indestructible instrument in the world, Nadine. The case is made from
high-density ceramic composition titanium, and the power supply is
designed to take and retain its scene forensic data indefinitely. Crime
scenes sometimes need to be maintained for yearsтАФeven decades.
ThatтАЩs what the prang does: It records everything in place at a particular
point in time, in detail, and can project that detail upon the scene long after
the elements of that scene have changed. Hence scene analyzers must be
able to withstand the elements, attempts at tampering, and efforts of
miscreants to destroy them. In all my time in law enforcement I have never