"Paul J. McAuley - Dead Man Walking" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

тАЬI have a job to finish.тАЭ
тАЬPeople to kill, riots to start.тАЭ
The assassin took a long step sideways to the cart, took something the size of a
basketball from the net behind its seat, bowled it toward me. It bounced slowly over
the dusty ground and ended up between my legs: the severed head of an old woman,
skin burnt black with cold, eyes capped by frost.
тАЬThe former leader of the parliament of Sparta, Tethys,тАЭ the assassin said. тАЬI left the
body pinned to the ground in one of the fields where her friends work, with an
amusing little message.тАЭ
тАЬYou are trying to start a war amongst the prisoners. Perhaps the people who sent
you here are hoping that the scandal will close the facility. Perhaps they think it is the
only chance theyтАЩll have of freeing their comrades. Who are you working for, by the
way?тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩll ask the questions,тАЭ the assassin said.
I asked her how she would escape when she was finished. тАЬThereтАЩs a special team on
the way. If youтАЩre still here when they arrive, theyтАЩll hunt you down and kill you.тАЭ
тАЬSo thatтАЩs why you came after me. You were frightened that this team would find you
while they were hunting me.тАЭ
She may have been young, but she was smart and quick.
I said, тАЬI came because I wanted to talk to you. Because youтАЩre like me.тАЭ
тАЬBecause after all these years of living amongst humans, you miss your own kind, is
that it?тАЭ
Despite the electronic distortion, I could hear the sneer in the assassinтАЩs voice. I said
carefully, тАЬThe people who sent you hereтАФthe people who made youтАФhave no plans to
extract you when you are finished here. They do not care if you survive your mission.
They only care that it is successful. Why give your loyalty to people who consider you
expendable? To people who lied to you? You have many years of life ahead of you, and
it isnтАЩt as hard to disobey your orders as you might think. YouтАЩve already disobeyed
them, in fact, when you reached out to me. All you have to do is take one more step,
and let me help you. If we work together, weтАЩll survive this. WeтАЩll find a way to escape.тАЭ
тАЬYou think youтАЩre human. YouтАЩre not. YouтАЩre exactly like me. A walking dead man.
ThatтАЩs what our instructors called us, by the way: the dead. Not тАШDave.тАЩ Not anything
cute. When we were being moved from one place to another, theyтАЩd shout out a
warning: тАШDead men walking.тАЩтАЭ
It is supposed to be the traditional cry when a condemned person is let out of their
cell. Fortunately, IтАЩve never worked in Block H, where prisoners who have murdered
or tried to murder fellow inmates or guards await execution, so IтАЩve never heard it or
had to use it.
The assassin said, тАЬTheyтАЩre right, arenтАЩt they? WeтАЩre made things, so how can we be
properly alive?тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩve lived a more or less ordinary life for ten years. If you give this up and come with
me, IтАЩll show you how.тАЭ
тАЬYou stole a life, just as I did. Underneath your disguise, youтАЩre a dead man, just like
me.тАЭ
тАЬThe life I live now is my own, not anyone elseтАЩs,тАЭ I said. тАЬGive up what you are doing,
and IтАЩll show you what I mean.тАЭ
тАЬYouтАЩre a dead man in any case,тАЭ the assassin said. тАЬYouтАЩre breathing the last of your
air. You have less than an hour left. IтАЩll leave you to die here, finish my work, and
escape in the confusion. After that, IтАЩm supposed to be picked up, but now I think IтАЩll
pass on that. There must be plenty of people out there who need my skills. IтАЩll work for