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

midmorning his legs were horizontally striped with sunburn, darkest at the top of his thighs and lightest
just below his knees, marking the different levels to which he had pulled the cuffs of his boots. Right now
they were folded all the way down.
He glanced up and saw Kylis. His carriage changed; he straightened and waved. His blond beard was
bristly and uncombed and his hair was plastered down with sweat. The waistband of his shorts was red
with mud spattered onto his body and washed down by perspiration and rain. As he came closer she
saw that he was thinner, and that the lines around his eyes had deepened. They had been lines of thought
and laughter; now they were of fatigue and exposure. He hurried toward her, slipping on the clay, and
she realized he, too, had been worried.
He heard I was in sensory deprivation, she thought, and he was afraid for me. She stood motionless
for a few seconds. She was not quite used to him yet; his easy acceptance of her and his concern seemed
innocent and admirable compared to the persistent distrust Kylis
had felt toward him for so long. She started forward to meet him. He stopped and held out his hands.
She touched him, and he came forward, almost trembling, holding himself taut against exhaustion. His
pose collapsed. Bending down, he rested his forehead on her shoulder. She put her hands on his back,
very gently.
"Was it bad?" His voice was naturally low but now it was rough and hoarse. He had probably been
directing his crew, shouting above the roar of machinery for eighteen hours.
"Bad enough," Kylis said. "I've been glad of the work since."
Still leaning against her, he shook his head.
"I'm okay now. I've quit hallucinating," she said, hoping it was true. "And you? Are you all right?" She
could feel his breath on her damp shoulder.
"Yes. Now. Thanks to Gryf."
Jason had started this set on first day shift, which began at midnight and ended in the afternoon. Its
members worked through the hottest part of the day when they were most tired. Halfway through his
third work period Jason had collapsed. He was delirious and dehydrated, sunburned even through his
shirt. The sun drained him. Gryf, just getting off when Jason fell, had worked through his own sleep
period to finish Jason's shift. For them to switch shifts, Gryf had worked almost two of Redsun's days
straight. When Kylis heard about that, she could not see how anyone could do it, even Gryf.
Gryf had broken the rules; but no one had made Jason go back to his original shift. The Lizard must
never have said anything about it. Kylis could imagine him standing in shadow, watching, while Gryf
waited for a confrontation that never came. It was something the Lizard would do.
Jason's shoulders were scarred where blisters had formed in the sun, but Kylis saw that they had
healed cleanly. She put her arm around Jason's waist to support him. "Come on. I found a place to
sleep." They were both sticky with sweat and the heat.
"Okay." They crossed the barren mud where all the vegetation had been stripped away so the
machines could pass. Before they turned off the path they drew rations from the mechanical dispenser
near the prisoners' quarters. The tasteless bars dropped through a slot, two each. There were times in
Kylis' life when she had not eaten well, but she had seldom eaten anything as boring as prison rations.
Jason put one of his bars into his belt pouch.
"When are you going to give that up?"
Jason nibbled a corner of his second ration bar. "I'm not." His grin made the statement almost a joke.
He saved part of his food against what Kylis thought ludicrous plans of escape. When he had saved
enough supplies, he was going to hike out through the marsh.
"You don't have to save anything today." She slipped her tag back into the slot and kept reinserting it
until the extra points were used and a small pile of ration bars lay in the hopper.
"They forgot to void my card for the time I was in the deprivation box," Kylis said. In sensory
deprivation, one of the prison's punishments for mistakes, she had been fed intravenously. She gave
Jason the extra food. He thanked her and put it in his belt pouch. Together they crossed the bare clay
and entered the forest.