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

тАЬIтАЩm afraid, sir, the only toasters with which I have experience are
designed for sliced bread, crumpets, and such.тАЭ Walter looked at me. тАЬSir,
I could be dead wrong.тАЭ

тАЬNicely put,тАЭ said Shad, turning toward me. тАЬJaggs, we could wait for a
properly equipped team to come and deal with the Terminator. No muss,
no fussтАФтАЭ

тАЬтАФAnd no witness,тАЭ I completed. тАЬTo change plans now would
require time, which we are running out of rather rapidly. Gentlemen, every
now and then one simply needs to roll the dice.тАЭ

тАЬWould it be crass of me, Balloonleg Harry,тАЭ asked Shad, тАЬto point out
that right now youтАЩre on your third meat suit, which itself is getting just a little
bomb worn around the edges?тАЭ

тАЬCaution,тАЭ I answered. тАЬis just another way of saying IтАЩm not sure of
what IтАЩm doing.тАЭ

Walter looked at me. тАЬSir, forgive me if IтАЩm speaking out of turn, but
doesnтАЩt that rather accurately describe our current predicament?тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm afraid it does, and it is quite tactless of you to make a point of it. I
should complain to your employer.тАЭ

тАЬEmployee-owned company, sir,тАЭ said Walter. тАЬI am my employer.тАЭ

тАЬThen consider yourself notified.тАЭ I pointed toward the shack. тАЬLetтАЩs
go.тАЭ

****

The stone shack, according to a sign affixed to its newish steel door,
was maintained by the park authority to house emergency medical and
survival supplies for hikers stranded by freak storms. I opened the door
and it swung in. No noise. No motion. Very little light inside. Outside light
was prevented from coming through the windows by flattened pieces of
pasteboard. There was a battery-operated light hanging from the center of
the roof, but it was missing its batteries. Shad turned on the microтАЩs
illumination system. The south wall was filled up to the blocked window with
shelves containing first aid kits, packaged blankets, and cases of bottled
water and energy bars. Like the battery operated light, all three torches and
a radio had been stripped of their batteries, all of which now lay discarded
upon the cement floor.

Against the back of the shack, seated in the shadows upon a sleeping
bag roll, was the figure of a quite small person. Shad illuminated the figure
of a young girl who sat motionless, her eyes open, looking like an
old-fashioned porcelain doll on a gift shop shelf. She was clad in pale