"Ken Rand - The Henry and the Martha" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rand Ken)

The Henry and the Martha

Ken Rand

****
[Insert Pic henry.jpg Here]
****

Science fiction is about otherness, yet, to be meaningful, story must be about
human emotions. YouтАЩll get otherness if your story is told through an alien point of
view. But will you get humanness if the human in the story is the last of its
kindтАФand insane?

****

THE MARTHA WAS DEAD.

Our lights played over the still, pale corpse, unclothed, limbs aligned, arms
folded across its chest, glassy eyes fixed on the ceiling above the bed. Its throat had
been crushed, bruised to a vivid black. The odor of human waste tainted the air.

Where was the Henry?

тАЬOh, E-gar.тАЭ A-nanтАЩs voice quivered. тАЬWhat couldтАФhow could...тАЭ Her throat
pouch fluttered in distress and her light wandered around the exhibit bedroom area,
avoiding the corpse, the beam darting across the back wall, and away, toward the
transparent fourth wall behind us, beyond which tens of thousands of patrons
flocked daily to see the humans in their natural, home-like habitat.

The museum opened in two hours. The human habitat was open to constant
public view except for most of the bedroom and the toilet. Those rooms at the
exhibitтАЩs rear gave the humans some privacy, a psychological need.

Patrons stood in line for hours in the hot Earthen sun, so hot here on the
North Continent on the lip of the vast western ocean, to see the humans. How
disappointed they were when they got to the head of the line to find one human had
chosen that moment to hide to perform a bodily function. It took incidents, patrons
getting hurt, before adequate security got budgeted.

How much more disappointed would patrons be now?

It might take the medical staff more than two hours to re-animate the Martha.
Even then, it might not function as it should, not at first. We might have to delay
opening. We could blame it on the storm. Patrons would not be pleased, but what
else could we do?
 Where was the Henry?

The Henry was the star of the exhibit, what everyone came to see. It would
dance, yell gibberish, jump at the transparent wall, thumping its fists against it.
Patrons shrieked in delighted terror and got back in line for more. The Henry loved