"Daniel Marcus - Heart of Molten Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marcus Daniel)

crazy fucking mag-field. Only jumpship on-planet is down with Schwartz, too.тАЭ

He shook his head, and again I thought I saw a hint of wry amusement in his expression. тАЬSo we have
been stuck here, mister Company man. High and dry. Incommunicado.тАЭ

I took another sip and the raw whiskey burned my throat. I turned to Drake. тАЬWhat kind of shit?тАЭ

He shook his head and stared down into his cup again.

Flint laughed abruptly, a short bark. тАЬLet's just say that Schwartz has been working outposts a little too
long. It didn't matter as long as he kept up his shipments...тАЭ

тАЬWhatdidn't matter?тАЭ

He waved his hand at me. тАЬI'm getting to that.тАЭ He paused and took another sip of whiskey. тАЬHe seems
to be acting out some sort of ...fantasy ... with his andys. Some sort of God thing.тАЭ

тАЬWhat are you talking about?тАЭ

тАЬSchwartz seems to believe that his andys ... worship him.тАЭ

I looked closely at him. It was ludicrous. Andys were ... andys. They had a functional bipedal form, but
they were just high-melanin synflesh stretched over a fullerene endoskeleton. There was a vat-grown
knot of ganglia between their ears that gave them a rudimentary vocabulary and the ability to carry out
manual tasks. They were outstanding tools, but they had about as much capacity for spirituality as a
toaster.

тАЬThat's crazy,тАЭ I said.

Flint shrugged. тАЬWell, yeah, but you have to understand. It's different with andys out here.тАЭ

I felt a sharp jolt in the ground underneath me. The lights in the shed flickered briefly. There was another,
gentler jolt.

тАЬQuake,тАЭ Flint said. тАЬWe get them all the time.тАЭ

тАЬGreat,тАЭ I said. I'd lived in South California for a few years when I was a kid, just before the Big One.
The holos of the Los Angeles Sea still gave me the willies. I didn't want to think about what a serious
quake here might do to the e-field generators. I put both hands flat on the table, trying not to show my
nervousness. тАЬWhat do you mean, different?тАЭ I asked.

He shook his head. тАЬJust different. That's all. But Schwartz's really taken it around the bend.тАЭ He
paused. тАЬLook, I don't know what was really going on down thereтАФall I've got are a few radio
transcripts. That's why I sent Orbison.тАЭ

Drake looked like he was about to say something. I looked at him and he bit his lip and looked away.
Beads of sweat glistened on his scalp ridges. Up close, I could tell that it was a home surgery jobтАФwell
done, but a little sloppy. There was a fine tracery of cauterization scars around the base of the ridges.

He knew something and he wasn't talking. I would try to get him alone later on.