"Continuing Time - 01 - Emerald Eyes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moran Daniel Keys)

most of a second. His eyes were opened wide in a surprise that would soon be
terror, and he was drawing in air to shout. I reached past the rising wave of
fear, into his forebrain, and sent him into sleep as gently as I was able. His
body began to sag almost instantly; his breath exhaled in a loud sigh as he
fell. I caught him before he had struck the ground, and carried him out through
the door into the corridor. In Time I erased his memories of me, and in Time I
returned to the small room where I had killed Jorge Rodriguez. I touched the
pressure pad that opened the door into the laboratories, and as it opened I
ascended into fast time once more.
The small badge that Jorge Rodriguez wore had turned from clear to black while
he stood in that room with me. I had lived a thousand times as fast as he; the
heat of my body had struck him as gamma rays for more than long enough.

УA remarkably impersonal room, this.Ф Amnier stood in front of her bookcase, ran
one finger down the spine of a text by de Nostri on fine neural structure. УNo
paintings, no holosЕФ Without subtlety, he watched her as he spoke. She held
herself like a man, shoulders squared back.
Montignet moved by him, to seat herself behind her desk. She pressed her thumb
against the lock and slid open the filing drawer УIТm rarely here, I generally
work downstairs at the lab. I have a desk there, and there are cots for when we
draw night duty.Ф From the filing drawer she withdrew two folders, and closed
the drawer again. The drawer locked itself automatically УThe books are mostly
gifts.Ф Amnier turned back to her УThe de Nostri was from de Nostri, the manТs
an incredible egotist.Ф
УAh,Ф said Amnier, and Suzanne had to repress a rather evil grin at how eagerly
he leapt upon the opening, Уan egotist, yes, but a successful egotist.Ф
Suzanne Montignet did smile then, and watched as her smile struck Amnier. His
face became very calm. So then, he was not, as Malko had thought, attracted only
to boys. УI would not say that our work here has been a failure.Ф
УBut neither has it produced a clear success. De Nostri hasЧchildren, if that is
the correct wordЧwho are nearly two years of age.Ф
УChildren,Ф said Suzanne Montignet with some anger, Уis not the correct word.
Mister, any fool can produce monsters. Mixing variant gene sets is not so very
difficult. Slapping together genes from humans and leopards, among reputable
scientists, thatТs known as playing mix and match. What weТre doing is more
difficult, and you know it. The foeti we have designed here, from the ground up,
are human. They will be human children.Ф
УBut they do not live.Ф
УNotЕФ Not yet, she had started to say; Suzanne Montignet clamped down upon her
anger. It was almost as though Malko were there in the room with her, whispering
in her ear. Amnier delighted in argument; directness was the way to handle him
УDid you,Ф she asked slowly, Уcome here to shut us down?Ф
УI have come,Ф said the small man, as honestly as he was able, Уto decide.Ф
They were still staring at each other when the alarms went off.

It was strange, looking down upon the bundle of ammo acids which was my
ancestor.
They had assembled him with lasers and viruses, in a process that the histories
said would be obsolete within a decade. It was a primitive process, far likelier
to fail than otherwise; the histories were unclear as to how many times the