"Cordwainer Smith - A Planet Named Shayol" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Cordwainer)

The old manТs voice went on, УLook, near the big toe of the mountain!Ф
The desolate murmur in the group attested their confirmation of what he had seen.
A woman Ц was it a woman? Ц crawled over to him on her hands and knees. Beside her ordinary hands, she was covered with hands all over her trunk and halfway down her thighs. Some of the hands looked old and withered. Others were as fresh and pink as the baby-fingers on his captressТ face. The woman shouted at him, though it was not necessary to shout.
УThe dromozoa are coming. This time it hurts. When you get used to the place, you can dig in ЦФ
She waved at a group of mounds which surrounded the herd of people.
УTheyТre dug in,Ф she said.
Mercer cawed again.
УDonТt you worry,Ф said the hand-covered woman, and gasped as a flash of light touched her.
The lights reached Mercer too. The pain was like the first contact but more probing. Mercer felt his eyes widen as odd sensations within his body led to an inescapable conclusion: these lights, these things, these whatever-they-were, were feeding him and building him up.
Their intelligence, if they had it, was not human, but their motives were clear. In between the stabs of pain he felt them fill his stomach, put water in his blood, draw water from his kidneys and bladder, massage his heart, move his lungs for him.
Every single thing they did was well meant and beneficent in intent.
And every single action hurt.
Abruptly, like the lifting of a cloud of insects, they were gone. Mercer was aware of a noise somewhere outside Ц a brainless, bawling cascade of ugly noise. He started to look around. And the noise stopped.
It had been himself, screaming. Screaming the ugly screams of a psychotic, a terrified drunk, an animal driven out of understanding or reason.
When he stopped, he found he had his speaking voice again.
A man came to him, naked like the others. There was a spike sticking through his head. The skin had healed around it on both sides. УHello, fellow,Ф said the man with the spike.
УHello,Ф said Mercer. It was a foolishly commonplace thing to say in a place like this.
УYou canТt kill yourself,Ф said the man with the spike through his head.
УYes, you can,Ф said the woman covered with hands.
Mercer found that his first pain had disappeared. УWhatТs happening to me?Ф
УYou got a part,Ф said the man with the spike. УTheyТre always putting parts on us. After a while BТdikkat comes and cuts most of them off, except for the ones that ought to grow a little more. Like her,Ф he added, nodding at the woman who lay with the boy-body growing from her neck.
УAnd thatТs all?Ф said Mercer. УThe stabs for the new parts and the stinging for the feeding?Ф
УNo,Ф said the man. УSometimes they think weТre too cold and they fill our insides with fire. Or they think weТre too hot and they freeze us, nerve by nerve.Ф
The woman with the boy-body called over, УAnd sometimes they think weТre unhappy, so they try to force us to be happy. I think thatТs the worst of it all.Ф
Mercer stammered, УAre you people Ц I mean Ц are you the only herd?Ф
The man with the spike coughed instead of laughing. УHerd! ThatТs funny. The land is full of people. Most of them dig in. WeТre the ones who can still talk; we stay together for company. We get more turns with BТdikkat that way.Ф
Mercer started to ask another question, but he felt the strength run out of him. The day had been too much.
The ground rocked like a ship on water. The sky turned black. He felt someone catch him as he fell. He felt himself being stretched out on the ground. And then, mercifully and magically, he slept.



III

Within a week, he came to know the group well. They were an absent-minded bunch of people. Not one of them ever knew when a dromozoon might flash by and add another part. Mercer was not stung again, but the incision he had obtained just outside the cabin was hardening. Spikehead looked at it when Mercer modestly undid his belt and lowered the edge of his trouser-top so they could see the wound.
УYouТve got a head,Ф he said. УA whole baby head. TheyТll be glad to get that one upstairs when BТdikkat cuts it off you.Ф
The group even tried to arrange his social life. They introduced him to the girl of the herd. She had grown one body after another, pelvis turning into shoulders and the pelvis below that turning into shoulders again until she was five people long. Her face was unmarred. She tried to be friendly to Mercer.
He was so shocked by her that he dug himself into the soft, dry, crumbly earth and stayed there for what seemed like a hundred years. He found out later that it was less than a full day. When he came out, the long many-bodied girl was waiting for him.
УYou didnТt have to come out just for me,Ф said she.
Mercer shook the dirt off himself.
He looked around. The violet sun was going down, and the sky was streaked with blues, deeper blues and trails of orange sunset.
He looked back at her. УI didnТt get up for you. ItТs no use lying there, waiting for the next time.Ф
УI want to show you something,Ф she said. She pointed to a low hummock. УDig that up.Ф
Mercer looked at her. She seemed friendly. He shrugged and attacked the soil with his powerful claws. With tough skin and heavy digging-nails on the ends of his fingers, he found it was easy to dig like a dog. The earth cascaded beneath his busy hands. Something pink appeared down in the hole he had dug. He proceeded more carefully.
He knew what it would be.
It was. It was a man, sleeping. Extra arms grew down one side of his body in an orderly series. The other side looked normal.
Mercer turned back to the many-bodied girl, who had writhed closer.
УThatТs what I think it is, isnТt it?Ф
УYes,Ф she said. УDoctor Vomact burned his brain out for him. And took his eyes out, too.Ф
Mercer sat back on the ground and looked at the girl. УYou told me to do it. Now tell me what for.Ф
УTo let you see. To let you know. To let you think.Ф