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

тАЬAny involving duck?тАЭ I asked Walter.

тАЬOne hundred and sixteen, sir. All quite excellent.тАЭ

тАЬHeтАЩs got some other stuff in there, too, Jaggs. Gives me an idea.тАЭ

****

The time and power requirements of ShadтАЩs plan left very little charge
on WalterтАЩs MG and not a great deal of light left to the day by the time we
finished preparations. Afterward Walter drove us down the hill and parked
the car where the track came in from the Taw Head ford, the last of the rain
clouds in the east reflecting the setting sunтАЩs light. Val and Nadine remained
in the MG equipped with a cell phone whose preprogrammed number for a
police ambulance could be entered with the stroke of a single paw. Walter,
Shad, and I continued north. Shad hovered, Walter walked, and I leaned
rather heavily on Walter as I limped along. In twenty minutes or so we
reached a gentle track that came up the southwest side of Steeperton Tor.
Twenty additional minutes of climbing, slowed by having to wait for me, and
we were at the top, looking across massive stacked granite plates of the tor
to the shed-roofed stone observation shack upon a rise at the north end of
the rocks.

The roof looked to be in much better condition than that of the shack
on Hangingstone Hill. I turned back and looked toward the southwest.
Hangingstone was a hundred or more meters higher than Steeperton. The
air was still and cool. At this distance the shack on Hangingstone was but a
darkened dot on the horizon against a sky of delicate pinks rapidly being
swallowed by the darkness of the approaching night. It was quite moving. I
glanced down at the MG, another dark dot, and imagined Val in there
waiting for news of how all this would end.

тАЬJaggs?тАЭ called Shad.

I turned around. Walter was looking at me and Shad was hovering
next to him, also looking at me. тАЬSorry. Getting a last look at things. After all,
I am the one who doesnтАЩt have a copy back in Exeter.тАЭ

тАЬWalter and I could go in aloneтАФтАЭ

тАЬWe are agreed,тАЭ I interrupted, тАЬthat my presence could well tip the
scales in favor of the toasterтАЩs cooperation?тАЭ I looked at Walter.

тАЬYes, sir. That is true. MEBIT conscience is suppressed, but not
eliminated.тАЭ

I looked at Shad.

тАЬYeah, great if WalterтАЩs right about yon toaster. How about it, Walter?
You got a lot of experience with killer mechs?тАЭ