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

beings. Backing up engram imprints gives in to the fact, all this protoplasm
notwithstanding, we are but machines. ItтАЩs humbling.тАЭ

тАЬAre your engrams backed up, sir?тАЭ

тАЬNo. And, yes, the reasons for not doing it seem sillier with each
passing moment.тАЭ I nodded toward the crater. тАЬWeтАЩd best finish our search
before the entire moor erodes into the sea. Walter, we could cover more
ground if youтАЩd agree to join in.тАЭ

тАЬI would be happy to, sir,тАЭ he responded lowering his voice,
тАЬHowever, Mrs. Jaggers told me sheтАЩd have my gears for garters if I
allowed a single drop of rain to fall upon you.тАЭ

тАЬSince IтАЩm already soaked through, dear boy, IтАЩd say youтАЩre already
doomed.тАЭ

тАЬBefore my imminent disassembly, sir, shall I engage in a bit of
exploration then?тАЭ

тАЬThe wages are the same in either case.тАЭ I pointed to the opposite
side of the crater. тАЬGo down slope until you run out of loose clumps of soil
and other debris from the explosion. Go a couple meters beyond, then
circle the edge of the debris field, moving toward the center with each
circuit. IтАЩll start in the center and work my way out. Look in, around, over, and
beneath everything. And thank you.тАЭ

We walked the coil for more than two hours, turning over rocks and
clods of earth, not finding Shad or anything into which he might have copied
himself. I reached the displaced hanging stone before Walter. When I
examined the scene analyzer I could tell someone had tried prying the thing
free of the rock, which showed crude tool marks. I suspected souvenir
hunters. Our culprit would possess the tool necessary to remove the
instrument from its site.

My wireless interface detected no signal at all from the prang. I stood
and looked toward the northwest. The view took in vast distances, the
boulder-pocked flanks of Yes Tor filling the far distance. But what I could
see was but a small part of the moor. If Shad had copied into a mech and
had gone for help he could be quite a ways from Hangingstone Hill. He
could have run out of power before reaching help. He could have been
caught in the open.

Suddenly I felt a chill and began shaking as I pulled my coat about
me. I was soaked, my ankle hurt, and my head was splitting. I was very tired
and possessed of an overwhelming desire to lie down in the wet heather,
pull the rain up over my head, and let sleep take me.

тАЬSir, if I may?тАЭ said Walter.