"Vonda N. McIntyre - Little Faces" - читать интересную книгу автора (McIntyre Vonda N)

it had remained nearly concealed, only the top of its head showing, while Yalnis and Zorar made love.
Yalnis had thought the companions admirably modest, but now she wondered if their reaction had been
fear.

Zorar pressed her fingers beneath the companion's chin, scratching it gently, revealing its neck.

The scar did not stop at Zorar's navel. It continued, crossing the back of the companion's neck and the
side of its throat. "Seyyan claimed she behaved as she'd been taught. As she thought was proper, and
right. She was horrified at my distress."

She stroked the companion's downy scalp. It closed its eyes.

Her voice hardened.

"I had to comfort her, she acted so distraught.I had to comforther. "

"She accused me of teasing and deceiving her," Yalnis said. "And shekilled Zorargul."

Under Zorar's gentle hand, the scarred companion relaxed and slept, its teeth no longer bared.

"Perhaps she's learned efficiency," Zorar whispered, as if the companion might hear and understand her.
"Or тАж mercy."

"Mercy!" Yalnis exclaimed. "Cruelty and sarcasm, more likely."

"She killed Zorargul," Zorar said. "This one, mine, she left paralyzed. Impotent."

Yalnis imagined: Zorargul, cut off from her, unable to communicate with either pleasure or memory,
parasitic, its pride destroyed. She gazed at Zorar with astonishment and pity, and she flushed with
embarrassment. She had felt piqued when Zorar created Zorargul with a secondary little face, instead of
with her first companion. Now Yalnis knew why.

Yalnis laid her hand on Zorar's. Her own fingers touched the downy fur of the damaged companion.
Involuntarily, she shuddered. Zorar glanced away.

Could I have kept Zorargul? Yalnis wondered. No matter how much I loved Zorar тАж

She thought Zorar was the bravest person she had ever met.

Would it be right to say so? She wondered. Any more right than to ask the questions I know not to ask:
How could youтАФ? Why didn't youтАФ?

"What do you think, now?" Zorar said.

"I'm outraged!" Yalnis said.

"Outraged enough to tell?"

"I told you."