"RESNICK, Mike - The Land of Nod" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

"Do as I say," I ordered him.
"Yes, _mundumugu_," he replied unhappily, going to a small
control box and punching in a code.
Suddenly the mild visual distortion vanished at eye level. I
reached out a reassuring hand, and a moment later Ahmed ran the
tip of his trunk gently across my face and body, then sighed
deeply and stood there, swaying gently as he transferred his
weight from one foot to the other.
"I would not have believed it if I had not seen it!" said
Kamau almost reverently.
"Are we not all Ngai's creations?" I said.
"Even Ahmed?" asked Kamau.
"Who do _you_ think created him?"
He shrugged again, and did not answer.
I remained for a few more minutes, watching the magnificent
creature, while Kamau returned the force field to its former
position. Then the night air became uncomfortably cold, as so
often happened at this altitude, and I turned to Kamau.
"I must leave now," I said. "I thank you for inviting me
here. I would not have believed this miracle had I not seen it
with my own eyes."
"The scientists think it is _their_ miracle," he said.
"You and I know better," I replied.
He frowned. "But why do you think Ngai has allowed Ahmed to
live again, at this time and in this place?"
I paused for a long moment, trying to formulate an answer,
and found that I couldn't.
"There was a time when I knew with absolute certainty why
Ngai did what He did," I said at last. "Now I am not so sure."
"What kind of talk is that from a _mundumugu_?" demanded
Kamau.
"It was not long ago that I would wake up to the song of
birds," I said as we left Ahmed's enclosure and walked to the side
gate through which I had entered. "And I would look across the
river that wound by my village on Kirinyaga and see impala and
zebra grazing on the savannah. Now I wake up to the sound and
smell of modern Nairobi and then I look out and see a featureless
grey wall that separates my son's house from that of his
neighbor." I paused. "I think this must be my punishment for
failing to bring Ngai's word to my people."
"Will I see you again?" he asked as we reached the gate and
he deactivated a small section long enough for me to pass through.
"If it will not be an imposition," I said.
"The great Koriba an imposition?" he said with a smile.
"My son finds me so," I replied. "He gives me a room in his
house, but he would prefer I lived elsewhere. And his wife is
ashamed of my bare feet and my _kikoi_; she is constantly buying
European shoes and clothing for me to wear."
"_My_ son works inside the laboratory," said Kamau, pointing
to his son's third-floor office with some pride. "He has seventeen