"Mike Resnick - Barnaby in Exile (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

some of them are much farther along. Barnaby's not the only ape that has
learned to use articles and adjectives, you know. There's a 25-year-old
gorilla, and three other Bonobo chimps that are well into their teens. There's
no reason to believe that anyone will restore our funding." "But he's
_different_," says Sally. "He asks abstract questions." "I know, I know...once
he asked you who God was. But I studied the tape, and you mentioned God first.
If you mention Michael Jordan and he asks who that is, it doesn't mean that
he's developed an abiding interest in basketball." "Can I at least talk to the
committee? Show them videotapes of him?" "They know what a chimpanzee looks
like," says Doctor. "But they don't know what one _thinks_ like," says Sally.
"Perhaps this will help to convince them..." "It's not a matter of convincing
them," says Doctor. "The funds have dried up. Every program is hurting these
days." "Please..." "All right," says Doctor. "I'll set up a meeting. But it
won't do any good." I hear it all, but I do not understand any of it. Before
it got white today I dreamed of a place filled with Barnabys, and I am sitting
in a corner, my eyes shut, trying to remember it before it all drifts away. #
We keep doing the lessons each day, but I can tell that Sally is unhappy, and
I wonder what I have done to upset her. # This morning Sally opens my cage
door and just hugs me for a long time. "I have to talk to you, Barnaby," she
says, and I see her eyes are making water again. I touch the grapes that say,
"Barnaby likes to talk." "This is important," she says. "Tomorrow you will
leave the lab." "Will I go outside?" I ask. "You will go very far away." "To a
zoo?" "Farther." Suddenly I remember God. "Will I go to heaven?" I ask. She
smiles even as her eyes make more water. "Not quite that far," she says. "You
are going to a place where there are no labs and no cages. You will be free,
Barnaby." "Are there other Barnabys there?" "Yes," she says. "There are other
Barnabys there." "Doctor was wrong," I say. "There will be more fun for Sally
and Barnaby." "I cannot go with you," she says. "Why?" "I have to stay here.
This is my home." "If you are good, maybe God will let you out of your cage,"
I say. She makes a funny sound and hugs me again. # They put me in a smaller
cage, one with no light in it. For two days I smell bad things. Most of my
water spills, and there are loud noises that hurt my ears. Sometimes People
talk, and once a man who is not Bud or Doctor gives me food and more water. He
does it through a little hole in the top of the cage. I touch his hand to show
him that I am not angry. He screams and pulls his hand away. I keep signing,
"Barnaby is lonely," but it is dark and there is no one to see. I do not like
my new world. # On the third morning they move my crate, and then they move it
again. Finally they lift it up and carry it, and when they set it down I can
smell many things I have never smelled before. They open the door, and I step




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out onto the grass. The sun is very bright, and I squint and look at People
who are not Sally or Doctor or Bud. "You're home, boy," says one of them. I
look around. The world is a much bigger place than the lab, and I am
frightened. "Go on, fella," says another. "Sniff around. Get used to the
place." I sniff around. I do not get used to the place. # I spend many days in
the world. I get to know all the trees and bushes, and the big fence around