"Ardath Mayhar - Shock Treatment" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mayhar Ardath)

it that you propose?"

She looked up -- a long way up, for she was very short and slight -- into his eyes. Her own were a glint
of silver between her eyelids, and her hair was of that shade. Her face, however, was impenetrably,
inevitably young, and the eyes shone with strength and purpose.

"I want to go into battle with you. I want to suffer with you, even die with you, if need be. I want to know
with every cell in my body, every element of my mind and spirit just what happens when my grandson's
machines and his men take a war to an innocent people in a country that was no threat to him or his. I am
equipped with a device that will retain every sensation I encounter, and with it I hope to shock my
grandson back to sanity."

The words jolted him. Deep inside himself, he felt that women had no place in battle, though more than
half of those left to defend his country were female and were bearing arms at that moment. This fragile
old creature surely could not endure what she proposed to do. Yet her

eyes were filled with purpose. Suddenly he realized that she could and would, if he agreed with the others
to allow her to go with them..

"Why?" he asked. The question rang in the room, as if it had been echoed in the minds of all those there.

"Because I want to know, to make my grandson know, what it is he is doing. I will not die, although my
own body will serve as the accumulator for the electrical impulses of the dying. Not until the time is right.
Our family has ways of surviving that most do not understand. I will gather the agony he sows across our
world. Because of that, there is a chance, a very small, frail chance, that my grandson may be brought
back to usefulness, in time, to undo what he can of the horrors he has caused.

"We will kill him if we must, but Granary will be the poorer. He is a brilliant man whose talents
complement those I have used to make our world a free one. If he can be salvaged we will all profit. Will
you help me to see if this will work?"

Falville stared down at her. The silver eyes gazed steadily into his.

This was the kin of the man he considered a monster. This woman had given birth to his mother, shared
his blood. And yet ... and yet he found himself persuaded, without more words, that she meant what she
said. She intended to stop her grandson, in her own way, while he and

his kind fought in their own.

"I will," he said, though he knew deep inside that no words spoken by any living being could divert the
Commander from his purposes.

A sigh of relief went around the room. The general grunted. "I am glad. We had agreed, already."

"Then we move toward Stormwall together. When?" Lemmon asked. She seemed to have taken on new
definition with this immediate need for her services.

"As soon as we get our weapons and supplies together. Can you be ready?" the General asked Falville.

He sighed, thinking of his stinking clothing, his wet boots, his empty gut. Then he straightened his back.