"Dan Simmons - On K2 with Kanakaredes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Simmons Dan)

rarely lamented dot-corn gold rush of yore, divorced (four times), a man of many passions
the greatest of which was mountain climbing; Dossier #2, Paul Ando Hiraga, twenty-eight
ski bum, professional guide, one of the world's best rock-and-ice climbers, unmarried;
Dossier #3, Jake Richard Pettigrew, thirty-six, (address: Boulder, Colorado), married, thre
children, high-school math teacher, a good-to-average climber with only two eight-
thousand-meter peaks bagged, both thanks to Gary and Paul, who invited him to join them
on international climbs for the six previous years. Mr. Pettigrew still cannot believe his goo
luck at having a friend and patron bankroll his climbs, especially when both Gary and Pau
were far better climbers with much more experience. But perhaps the dossiers told of how
Jake, Paul, and Gary had become close friends as well as climbing partners over the past few
years, friends who trusted each other to the point of trespassing on the Himalayan Preserv
just to get acclimated for the climb of their lives.
Or perhaps the blue folders were just some State Department busy-work that had nothi
to do with us.
"What's the idea of hauling us up here?" asked Gary, his voice controlled but tight. Ver
tight. "If the Hong Kong Syndicate wants to throw us in the slammer, fine, but you and
UN can't just drag us somewhere against our will. We're still U.S. citizens. . . ."
"U.S. citizens who have broken HK Syndicate Preserve rules and UN World Historica
Site laws," snapped Secretary Bright Moon.
"We have a valid permit . . . ," began Gary again. His forehead looked very red just
below the line of his cropped white hair.
"To climb K2, commencing three days from now," said the Secretary of State. "Your
climbing team won the HK lottery. We know. But that permit does not allow you to enter
overfly the Himalayan Preserve, or to trespass on Mount Everest."
Paul glanced at me. I shook my head. I had no idea what was going on. We could have
stolen Mount Everest and it wouldn't have brought Secretary Betty Willard Bright Moon
flying around the world to sit in this darkened revolving restaurant just to slap our wrists.
Gary shrugged and sat back. "So what do you want?"
Secretary Bright Moon opened the closest blue dossier and slid a photo across the
polished teak toward us. We huddled to look at it.
"A bug? "said Gary.
"They prefer Listener" said the secretary of state. "But mantispid will do."
"What do the bugs have to do with us?" said Gary.
"This particular bug wants to climb K2 with you in three days," said Secretary Bright
Moon. "And the government of the United States of America in cooperation with the
Listener Liaison and Cooperation Council of the United Nations fully intend to have him
. . . or her . . . do so."
Paul's jaw dropped. Gary clasped his hands behind his head and laughed. I just stared.
Somehow I found my voice first.
"That's impossible," I said.
Secretary Betty Willard Bright Moon turned her flat, dark-eyed gaze on me. "Why?"
Normally the combination of that woman's personality, her position, and those eyes
would have stopped me cold, but this was too absurd to ignore. I just held out my hands,
palms upward. Some things are too obvious to explain. "The bugs have six legs," I said at
last. "They look like they can hardly walk. We're climbing the second tallest mountain on
earth- And the most savage."
Secretary Bright Moon did not blink. "The buтАФ The mantispids seem to get around
their freehold in Antarctica quite well," she said flatly. "And sometimes they walk on two
legs."
Paul snorted. Gary kept his hands clasped behind his head, his shoulders back, posture