"Robert Onopa - Area Seven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Onopa Robert)

dry. When one end started smoldering, heat forced sap bubbling out the other, dripping and hissing. In
just that way, both fluid and words together sputtered from the wound in the strange shape before my
eyes.

I was so startled that I dropped my hammer. My mouth was so dry it was a struggle to speak. тАЬWho are
you?тАЭ




We took our lives. Now each dawn in the sunтАЩs rising light,
Heat breaks us. We moan, we bleed, we speak, but do not move.

Oh, traveler, what strange love brings you in harrowing night?

At the edge of my vision, the shipтАЩs com light began flashing on my helmet array. I toggled up audio.
тАЬTess. . . .тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm pulling you up, Serge. I donтАЩt know whatтАЩs going on down there, but IтАЩm pulling you up.тАЭ
***


тАЬIтАЩm going back for another sample,тАЭ I told Tessa.

тАЬYouтАЩre crazy. Your vitals are all over the place. I checked your support gasses. Trace anomalies, but
what else would explain it? ProblemтАЩs got to be in your backpack.тАЭ

тАЬNothingтАЩs wrong with my suit,тАЭ I said. тАЬI told you, IтАЩm hearing voices down there. DonтАЩt you remember
TakahishiтАЩs report from the skiff on the second planet? They thought they were getting some weird
geomagnetic overlay. The data they were pulling up-Takahishi mentioned voices.тАЭ

тАЬAnd what are they telling you?тАЭ she asked patiently.

тАЬThe voice . . . She said they were-they all were-suicides.тАЭ

Tessa looked at me mournfully, pulling on the locket I had given her. тАЬAre you being ironic?тАЭ

тАЬNo, no. I broke off a . . . section, and . . . it began bleeding, the trunk began bleeding, and while it bled,
it spoke. I thought about it in the air lock. The way a human suicide communicates is through spilling
blood. The process, the mechanism, makes a kind of sense. A suicide expresses himself . . . or herself . .
. through the flowing of his or her blood, thatтАЩs the way they speak to us. ThereтАЩs something familiar. . . .тАЭ

тАЬSerge . . . ?тАЭ

I rubbed my forehead. тАЬAnything on the sensors?тАЭ

тАЬNothing. The data from your suitтАЩs the only anomaly.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩll wear my other suit. You do the chemistry. IтАЩm going down again as soon as the backupтАЩs ready.тАЭ
***