"China Mieville - King Rat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mieville China)

The flurry of wings and bodies distracted a thickset
young man at the rear of the compartment. He had
been trying not to stare openly at the woman sitting
opposite him. Thick with relaxer, her hair had been
teased from its tight curls and was coiled like snakes
on her head. The man broke off his furtive scrutiny as
the birds passed by, and he ran his hands through his
own cropped hair.

The train was now below the houses. It wound
through a deep groove in the city, as if the years of
passage had worn down the concrete under the tracks.
Saul Garamond glanced again at the woman sitting in
front of him, and turned his attention to the windows.
The light in the carriage had made them mirrors, and
he stared at himself, his heavy face. Beyond his face
was a layer of brick, dimly visible, and beyond that
the cellars of the houses that rose like cliffs on either
side.

It was days since Saul had been in the city.




file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/China%20Mieville%20-%20King%20Rat.txt (14 of 422) [10/15/2004 2:24:56 PM]
 file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/China%20Mieville%20-%20King%20Rat.txt




Every rattle of the tracks took him closer to his
home. He closed his eyes.

Outside, the gash through which the tracks passed
had widened as the station approached. The walls on
either side were punctuated by dark alcoves, small
caves full of rubbish a few feet from the track. The
silhouettes of cranes arched over the skyline. The
walls around the train parted. Tracks fanned away on
either side as the train slowed and edged its way into
King's Cross.

The passengers rose. Saul swung his bag over his
shoulder and shuffled out of the carriage. Freezing air
stretched up to the great vaulted ceilings. The cold
shocked him. Saul hurried through the buildings,
through the crowds, threading his way between knots
of people. He still had a way to go. He headed underground.