"Kim Stanley Robinson - Mars 3 - Green Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

But that too was impossible. Again they both saw it. Simon would have to give Nirgal to his fate,
whatever it was. There was no way to help. тАЬBe good,тАЭ he whispered finally, and Hiroko led Nirgal out
of the room. She took him through the dark back up to his room, and he fell into a deep sleep. Simon
died sometime during the night.



It was the first funeral in Zygote, and the first for all the children. But the adults knew what to do. They
met in one of the greenhouses, among the workbenches, and they sat in a circle around the long box
holding SimonтАЩs body. They passed around a flask of rice liquor, and everyone filled their neighborтАЩs
cup. They drank the fiery stuff down, and the old ones walked around the box holding hands, and then
they sat in a knot around Ann and Peter. . Maya and Nadia sat by Ann with their arms around her
shoulders. Ann appeared stunned, Peter disconsolate. Jurgen and Maya told stories about SimonтАЩs
legendary taciturnity. тАЬOne time,тАЭ Maya said, тАЬwe were in a rover and an oxygen canister blew out and
knocked a hole in the cabin roof, and we were all running around screaming and Simon had been outside
and he picked up a rock just the right size and jumped up and dropped it in the hole, and plugged it. And
afterward we were all talking like crazy people, and working to make a real plug, and suddenly we
realized Simon still hadnтАЩt said anything, and we all stopped working and looked at him, and he said,
That was close.тАЩ тАЬ
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They laughed. Vlad said, тАЬOr remember the time we gave out mock awards in Underhill, and Simon got
one for best video, and he went up to accept the award and said, Thank you,тАЩ and started to return to his
seat, and then he stopped and went back up to the podium, as if something had occurred to him to say,
you know, which got our attention naturally, and he cleared his throat and said, Thank you very much.тАЩ тАЬ

Ann almost laughed at that, and stood, and led them out into the frigid air. The old ones carried the box
down to the beach, and everyone else followed. It was snowing through mist when they took his body
out and buried it deep in the sand, just above the waveтАЩs high-water mark. They slid the board out of the
top of the long box and burned SimonтАЩs name onto it with NadiaтАЩs soldering iron, and stuck the board in
the first dune. Now Simon would be part of the carbon cycle, food for bacteria and crabs and then
sandpipers and gulls, thus slowly melting into the biomass under the dome. This was how one was buried.
And sure, part of it was comforting; to spread out into oneтАЩs world, to disperse into it. But to end as a
self, to go away... .

They all were walking under the dim dome, having buried Simon in sand, trying to behave as if reality
had not suddenly ripped apart and snatched one of them away. Nirgal couldnтАЩt believe it. They straggled
back into the village blowing on their hands, talking in subdued voices. Nirgal drew near Vlad and
Ursula, longing for reassurance of some kind. Ursula was sad, and Vlad was trying to cheer her up. тАЬHe
lived more than a hundred years, we canтАЩt go around thinking his death was premature, or it makes a
mockery of all those poor people who died at fifty, or twenty, or one.тАЭ

тАЬBut it was still premature,тАЭ Ursula said stubbornly. тАЬWith the treatments, who knows? He might have
lived a thousand years.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩm not so sure. It looks to me like the treatments are not in fact penetrating to every part of our bodies,
And with all the radiation weтАЩve taken on, we may have more troubles than we thought at first.тАЭ