"Robb, J D - In Death 18 - Portrait in Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robb J D)

Portrain in Death
J.D. Robb





The light of the body is in the eye
ЧNew Testament

A mother is a mother still,
The holiest thing alive.
ЧSamuel Coleridge




Prologue

We begin to die with our first breath. Death is inside us, ticking closer, closer, with every beat of
our heart. It is the end no man can escape. Yet we cling to life, we worship it despite its transience. Or
perhaps, because of it.
But all the while, we wonder of death. We build monuments to it, revere it with our rituals. What
will our death be? we ask ourselves. Will it be sudden and swift, long and lingering? Will there be pain?
Will it come after a long, full life, or will we be cut offЧviolently, inexplicablyЧin our prime?
When is our time? For death is for all time.
We create an afterlife because we cannot rush through our days chased by the specter of an end.
We make gods who guide us, who will greet us at golden gates to lead us into an eternal land of milk and
honey.
We are children, bound hand and foot by the chains of good with its eternal reward, and evil with
its eternal punishment. And so, most never truly live, not freely.
I have studied life and death.
There is only one purpose. To live. To live free. To become. To know, with each breath, you are
more than the shadows. You are the light, and the light must be fed, absorbed from any and all sources.
Then, the end is not death. In the end we become the light.
They will say I am mad, but I have found sanity. I have found Truth and Salvation. When I have
become, what I am, what I do, what I have created will be magnificent.
And we will all live forever.


Chapter 1

Life didn't get much better. Eve knocked back her first cup of coffee as she grabbed a shirt out of
the closet. She went for thin and sleeveless as the summer of 2059 was currently choking New York, and
the rest of the Eastern seaboard, in a tight, sweaty grip.
But hey, she'd rather be hot than cold.
Nothing was going to spoil her day. Absolutely nothing.
She pulled on the shirt, then with a quick glance at the door to make certain she was alone, did a
fast, hip-shaking boogie to the AutoChef for another hit of coffee. A glance at her wrist unit told her she
had plenty of time if she wanted breakfast, so what the hell, she programmed it for a couple of blueberry