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

I stepped over the railing and onto the barge. It rocked a little with my weight, then stabilized.

тАЬYou're bringing her?тАЭ I didn't realize until after I said it that I had referred to the andy by the female
gender. It gave me a crawly feeling at the pit of my stomach.

Flint didn't seem to notice. тАЬYeah.тАЭ Just asking me to make an issue out of it. I looked over at her. Was
it my imagination, or was her chin raised in a profile of defiance?

тАЬAll right, fine. Let's do it.тАЭ

It was about half a klick to the river, through a tortured landscape of rough hills and gaping fissures. Flint
drove quickly over the rough ground, managing to avoid the worst of it. The barge rocked slightly with
the unevenness of the terrain. The river glowed orange from behind the hills in front of us, the glow
intensifying as we approached.

We rounded a cliff of jagged obsidian and there it was in front of us, a vein of flowing, liquid fire, fifty
meters wide. A large rock jutted out of the stream near the middle and the lava splashed over it,
solidifying into crystalline streamers in mid-air and falling back into the flow.

The river was different this close up. There was almost a presence about it, a spirit.

Flint eased the barge to a stop. тАЬStyx,тАЭ he said. He wasn't smiling this time. He pointed to the rock in the
middle.

тАЬWhatever you do, don't get caught up on one of those. This thing spills and we wind up in the drink,
your e-field'll polarize. It's good for maybe two minutes before it overloads. Then you're history.тАЭ

I nodded. тАЬLet's go.тАЭ

We eased forward, off the bank and into the river. The ride felt different over the flowing lava, smoother
and more stable. Every now and then we lurched slightly as the null-g field passed over density
inhomogeneities in the flow.

We floated out to the center of the river, pointed downstream, and gradually picked up speed, leaving a
viscous, vee-shaped wake stretching out behind us.

After a little while, the river widened and the cliffs on either side fell away. The river was so calm and flat
we could have been riding on solid groundтАФexcept for the occasional bubble that rose up from the
depths, stretched the skin of the surface into a glowing, yellow hemisphere, and popped, sending a spray
of liquid rock in all directions.

I sat on the flat bottom of the barge behind Flint and Leilani, watching their silhouettes rock gently with
its motion, looking over the side at the lava speeding past. If you looked closely, you could see shifting
patterns in the flow, honeycomb-shaped convection cells growing, merging, collapsing. It was hypnotic. I
felt myself sinking into a light doze and I went with it. Flickering dreams, snapshots of flowing fire.
Drake's dead eyes looking through me. Glowing jagged scar ripping down Leilani's body, tearing her
open. Head and shoulders emerging from the blistered wound, pushing back the seared flesh like
snakeskin. Long ascetic face, sad eyes. I recognized the face from the files I'd studied. Schwartz.
Schwartz .