"Kim Stanley Robinson - A Short, Sharp Shock" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

a crash and cries came from the direction of the beach, and the guards in the clearing's hut rushed out and
down a path. "The platform!" someone was shouting in the distance as Thel ran to the bonfire and
snatched up a brand. Sparks streamed in a wide arc from the burning end as he ran to the cage and
crushed the burning end of the branch against the lashings at the bottom of a pole. This cage was better
constructed and it was going to take longer. A twig cracked behind him and the swimmer croaked a
warning; he swung the brand around and caught an onrushing guard in the face. The guard's raised
broadsword flew into the cage, cutting one prisoner who cried out; the guard himself couldn't do more
than grunt, as Thel beat him furiously across the neck and head. When Thel turned back to the cage the
prisoners had cut the lashing with the sword and were squeezing out of the cage and cursing one another
under their breath. Thel took the swimmer woman by the arm and pulled her out; she was thicker than
the others and barely fit through the gap. She appeared dazed, but when Thel held her face in his hands
and caught her eye, she recognized him. Garth had reappeared, and Thel was about to lead the swimmer
out of the clearing when one of the other prisoners said urgently, тАЬWonderful saviours, thank you
eternally, please, follow me, I know where the trailhead is that leads up to the spine!" So they followed
him, but it seemed to Thel he went straight for the center of the camp.

Shrieks cut the night and torches had been tossed high into the trees, some of which had caught fire and
become great torches themselves, so that there was far too much light for their purpose. "Wait one
moment please," the prisoner who claimed to know the way said, and he ran into the largest house in the
camp.

Apparently some of the treefolk amputees had found the flex X and set it alight. The crater wall enclosing
the lagoon appeared out of the darkness, faintly illuminated by the burning village. Sparks wafted among
the stars, it seemed the cosmos was winking out fire by fire. The prisoner ran out of the house carrying a
sack. "Follow me now," he cried jubilantly, "and run for your lives!"

They ran after him. Thel took the swimmer by the arm, determined not to lose her in the mayhem. But
now the prisoner was true to his word, and he led them through firebroken shadows to a wide cobbled
trail, ignoring the shouts and cries around them. The trail ran up to the crater's rim and then along it, to the
point where the crater wall diverged from the great slope of the spine ridge. The trail began to
switchback up the slope. Looking across an arc of the lagoon they saw the village dotted with burning
trees and smaller patches of fire, the flex X burning high on a beach glossy as a seal's back, and there
were two images of everything: one burning whitely over the beach, another, inverted, burning a clear
yellow in the calm black water of the bay.



8. The Mirror



Afraid of the spine kings' pursuit, they ran the trail west for many days, scarcely pausing to loot caches
located by the prisoner who led them. The caches contained clothing and shoes, and also buried jugs of
dried meat and fruit, lumps so hard and dry they couldn't tell what anything was until chewing it; good
food, but because there were seven of them they were still hungry. "We'll come to my village soon," the
prisoner said one evening after doling out a meager dinner, and outfitting Thel and the swimmer in pants
and tunics, and boots that were a lucky fit. The prisoner's name was Tinou, and he had a wonderful big
smile; he seemed astonished and delighted to have escaped the spine kings, and often he thanked Thel
and Garth for their rescue. "When we get there we'll eat like the lords of the ocean deep."