"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

about Khembalung and Washington D.C. and how much they were alike.

Then one tower of cubes and beams stood longer than the others had. Rudra Cakrin had constructed it
with care, and the repetition of basic colors was pretty: blue, red, yellow, green, blue, yellow, red, green,
blue, red, green, red. It was tall enough that ordinarily Joe would have already knocked it over, but he
seemed to like this one. He stared at it, mouth hanging open in a less-than-brilliant expression. Rudra
Cakrin looked over at Sucandra, said something. Sucandra replied quickly, sounding displeased, which
surprised Charlie. Drepung and Padma were suddenly paying attention. Rudra Cakrin picked out a
yellow cube, showed it to Sucandra and said something more. He put it on the top of the tower.

тАЬOooh,тАЭ Joe said. He tilted his head to one side, then the other, observing it.

тАЬHe likes that one,тАЭ Charlie noted.

At first no one answered. Then Drepung said, тАЬItтАЩs an old Tibetan pattern. You see it in mandalas.тАЭ He
looked to Sucandra, who said something sharp in Tibetan. Rudra Cakrin replied easily, shifted so that his
knee knocked a long blue cylinder into the tower, collapsing it. Joe shuddered as if startled by a noise on
the street.

тАЬAh ga,тАЭ he declared.

The Tibetans resumed the conversation. Nick was now explaining to Padma the distinction between
whales and dolphins. Sucandra went out and helped Charlie a bit with the cleanup in the kitchen; finally
Charlie shooed him out, feeling embarrassed that their pots were going to end up substantially cleaner
after this visit than they had been before; Sucandra had been expertly scrubbing their bottoms with a wire
pad found under the sink.

Around nine-thirty they took their leave. Anna offered to call a cab, but they said the Metro was fine.
They did not need guidance back to the station: тАЬVery easy. Interesting too. There are many fine carpets
in the windows of this part of town.тАЭ

Charlie was about to explain that this was the work of Iranians who had come to Washington after the
fall of the Shah, but then he thought better of it. Not a happy precedent: the Iranians had never left.

Instead he said to Sucandra, тАЬIтАЩll give my friend Sridar a call and ask him to meet with you. HeтАЩll be very
helpful, even if you donтАЩt end up hiring his firm.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩm sure. Many thanks.тАЭ And they were off into the balmy night.




WhatтАЩs New From the Department of Unfortunate Statistics?




E
xtinction Rate in Oceans Now Faster Than on Land. Coral Reef Collapses Leading to Mass Extinctions;
Thirty Percent of Warm-water Species Estimated Gone. Fishing Stocks Depleted, UN Declares
Scaleback Necessary or Commercial Species Will Crash.