"Doris Piserchia - A Billion Days of Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piserchia Doris)

"I am Sheen. Take my heart that we shall be one."
Such a simple conquest it was. The ego-eater quickly conned the jare and consumed his will. Figuratively smacking his
lips, Sheen then looked about for something else of the planet to sample.
Over his head, a cloud in the sky began a lazy descent to
the ground, moved toward a spread of soft grass. A large brown creature stepped foot to earth and gestured for the
cloud to ascend to its former place in the sky. Sheen ob-served with interest as the big creature stretched out on the
ground. His curiosity increased when the brown one did noth-ing more than begin a casual search through the high
clover.
He approached to within feet of the dark head. All at once he knew. Here was the offspring of Homo Sapiens, a species
that long lay moldering in the grave. Was this brown personage Homo Superior? Obviously the brown one
consid-ered himself at least that, since he and his kind called them-selves Gods.
"Come no closer," said the God, not lifting his attention from the grass. "Stand off or you'll burn yourself on my
pro-tective energy shield."
"What are you doing?" said Sheen.
"Looking for four-leaf clovers."
"Good Lord, why?"
"It amuses me."
"I love you."
The God raised his head. His eyes were dark and fath-omless. "Not today, Sheen. You're in your infancy and haven't
the power to beguile me."
"It's only the energy that separates us. I'll learn how to penetrate it and show your mind a vision of perfection."
The God's eyes were still. "I have lowered the shield. Assault me at once."
It was no assault at all. A fleck of down couldn't pierce steel. The astute Sheen learned his lesson. "You are not yet for
me. Sheen would starve with only Gods to feed upon."
He went away and left the brown monarch to his clover hunting. There were degrees of greatness. A novice shouldn't
set his sights too high. That which reigned directly beneath the Gods would be fair game.
Sheen turned back toward his birthplace, the Valley of the Dead, and by and by he drew near his mountain. To his
surprise he saw a figure busily chopping off pieces of his vol-cano. The silver being knew things without
understanding how he knew them. His mind was like a tightly rolled scroll. Confrontations with reality caused it to
loosen, to play out a bit. Knowledge was there in his mind, startling and irrefut-
able. One day the scroll would be completely unwound. Until then, he would learn himself and the world a little at a
time.
He knew something about the creature who was hacking at his mountain. Without ever having seen one, he knew
what the thing was. It called itself Homo Sapiens. In this, it was mistaken. The Gods were the descendants of man. The
crea-ture with the ax looked a good deal like Homo Sapiens: It had hair on its head, in its armpits and groin; it had two
arms and legs, a nose, two eyes, a mouth, a small jaw and a large cranium. It was cunning, omnivorous, and it built
cities. It possessed a conscience. But it had no hands. Instead it had paws. Attached to its wrists were metal
appendages which it used as hands.
"Hail!" said Sheen. He expected no response, but the creature surprised him by dropping the ax and whirling.
"Upon my soul! What an incredible day. What an in-credible fossil."
"Who, me?"
"Indeed! You bear a remarkable resemblance to the Effu."
"The what?"
"An extinct serpent. It required uranium to survive, and there simply wasn't enough of it around."
"I am Sheen. Who might you be?"
The creature bowed. "Professor Blok, Archaeological In-stitute at Osfar, at your service, sir."
"I'm glad to hear it."
"What are you?"
"I told you. Sheen. New genus."
"If I might have a piece of you to take away with me? I'd love to examine you under a scope."