"Mike Resnick - A Miracle Of Rare Design" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

desert known as Hell's Oven, but no Man was allowed access to their cities. Indeed, it was a minor miracle
that Lennox had managed to learn their language, since there were no radio or video signals to study and
analyze; he had accomplished it by being incarcerated with a Firefly who had killed four Men, and he had to
fight for his life perhaps fifty times before the Firefly was willing to declare a truce and begin trying to converse
with him. Even now, as he tried to pass for a Firefly and make his way to the pyramid, he was totally ignorant
of the meaning behind the crude squiggles that passed for the FirefliesтАЩ written language.
The spoken language wasn't much better. Simplistic and crude, and grating to the earтАФbut there was a
certain poetry to it when translated back into Terran. The FirefliesтАЩ name for Medina was Grotamana, which
meant тАЬTouched by God", while the city in which he found himself, Brakannan, was, literally, тАЬGold at Day's
End". There were some fifty-odd dialects just in this hemisphere, but fortunately the language he had learned
from his cellmate was a bastard tongue that had become thelingua franca for thousands of miles in every
direction.
A trio of flying insects began buzzing around his face. He tried to ignore them, and they were joined by half a
dozen more.
It must be the salt, he decided. Now that he was prepared, he could control his reactionsтАФbut none of the
Fireflies were being bothered by insects, and if he drew enough of them, someone would start wondering why.
He continued walking until he was well past the children, then turned a corner, surreptitiously ran his hand
over the front of a filthy building, and covered his face with dirt and grime, hoping that it would mask the odor
of his perspiration from the insects. He gave no thought to how it would affect his appearance; if any Firefly
actually saw his face, clean or dirty, he was a dead man anyway.
The shadows began lengthening as the sun plummeted down behind the distant hills, and Lennox began to
think he actually had a chance of accomplishing his goal. The temperature began dropping precipitously. It
was still hot, and it would remain hot, but he no longer felt like he was in danger of melting. He hadn't lost his
craving for water, but somehow, with the coming of the darkness, he was able to control it.
He considered approaching the pyramid. The streets were emptying, and he would have a clear path,
unhindered by any Fireflies. But the very act of walking there alone would call too much attention to himself,
and he had no idea what was expected of him once he arrived, so he kept to the shadows, hoping to remain
unseen, and planning to fall in behind the first group of Fireflies who emerged from their dwellings to begin the
mile-long trek.
He would have liked to have simply squatted down, his back propped against a wall, and feigned sleep for the
next hour, but he had no idea if Fireflies slept in such positionsтАФthe Firefly he had been incarcerated with
hadn't seemed to sleep at allтАФand he decided not to risk it. But the sudden silence and lack of movement
convinced him that they also didn't walk around after dark, at least not until they went to the pyramid, so he
simply stood in the shadows, motionless, and hoped that no one would see him.
Five minutes passed, then ten moreтАФand then a lone Firefly came walking down the narrow street. Lennox
stood still, trying to hide the tension in his body, and hoping to strike an attitude that implied that of course
this was where he belonged.
The Firefly stopped when he was about ten feet away and stared intently at Lennox. Lennox looked at the
ground, seemingly oblivious to him.
Finally the Firefly began walking again, and just as Lennox began to relax, he turned back and said
something in a dialect that Lennox had never heard before.
Lennox continued staring at the ground and made no response. The Firefly walked back to him and repeated
the phrase.
тАЬI do not understand you,тАЭ muttered Lennox in the one language he had mastered.
тАЬYou are not of the Realm or the Legion,тАЭ said the Firefly, switching to thelingua franca .
тАЬNo, I am not,тАЭ replied Lennox, wondering what he was talking about.
тАЬNor are you of the Seven.тАЭ
тАЬThat is true,тАЭ said Lennox.
тАЬThere is something different about you,тАЭ said the Firefly. тАЬYou mangle the language and you do not meet my
gaze.тАЭ