"Paul McAuley - Interstitial" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

"Those lies aren't worth a second's thought," Captain Achilles said. "How do you know your new friends
are coming back? They've left you here with me, Dave boy, because you're a spy."

"They'll be back."

Basic was guarding the soldiers who had been caught like flies in amber when the construction polymer
had been blown all over the platform at the top of the shaft. One had managed to half-free his arm in the
instant before it solidified around him, and he had shot Port. At first, Slash had wanted to kill the two
soldiers for that, but his anger had quickly subsided into sullen determination. Techs weren't killers. He
and Syntax had taken the soldiers' p-suits and had driven off in the rover to steal the bus. Syntax had
been a mechanic before she had been transferred to the library. She and Slash would fly it in over the top
of the chamber, blast into the cut-and-cover tunnel and bring in spare p-suits.

"If they do manage to steal the bus, they'll run away," Captain Achilles said, "but most likely they're
already dead. Free me, bro, and I'll save your ass when my people come looking for me."

"They'll come back," Echo said.

"Suppose they do. What will you do if you reach South Pole? Kill all the soldiers?"

"There won't be many soldiers left at South Pole," Echo said. "There's a war on. And if we have to fight,
we'll be fighting inside the base, a place techs know better than soldiers. That's what happened at Little
Tokyo, isn't it? After its techs found out what the Artifact was for, they rebelled against the soldiers, and
the Copernicus Alliance saw its chance and finished them all off. And now the same thing is happening at
the Alliance's base, because their techs found out about the Artifact too.

"You thought you could contain us, bro, but you were as wrong as all the other soldiers. We're going to
tell the other techs about what we found here, and we're going to ask them whether they want humanity
to die out in a futile war, or whether we should work on a suitable memorial instead. You could help. All
the soldiers could help. Once the war against the Copernicus Alliance is over, there will be no more
enemies to fight, nothing more for you to do. Tell me that you'll think about helping me and I won't leave
you here."

Captain Achilles made a tremendous effort and managed to arch his back so he could spit at Echo. He
missed, and glared at Echo with a mad, bloodshot eye.
"That's what I thought," Echo said sadly. "Soldiers can't help being soldiers. It's all they can do."

"You're as crazy as the others."

High above, shadows swayed across the flank of the Artifact as the elevator descended towards them.
Echo stood up.

"Here come my people," Captain Achilles said. "Last chance to ask for my help, bro."

"I don't think so," Echo said.

"If you're so sure, why are you holding on to the rifle like that?" Captain Achilles laughed. "Suppose you
get out of here, suppose you even get to South Pole. I bet you don't even know how you're going to get
past security."