"Bruce Sterling - Luciferase" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sterling Bruce)

Luciferase


by Bruce Sterling



His flesh lit up with erotic need.

The urge within him was beyond comprehension. It was cosmic: its own pure justification.

Light shocked out of him in a tumbling chemical rush.

Someone smashed into him with a violent scrabble of claws. He lost his grip on the grass stem and fell
spinning into the dirt. He lay there stunned, legs folded tightly across his belly.

His assailant plummeted after him from the twilight sky. It was Peck, a spider. Peck hit the rotting leaf
litter and rebounded on powerful legs. He spun his spiny carcass, his domed eyes searching for prey like
a set of black periscopes.

тАЭPeck, itтАЩs me. ItтАЩs Vinnie.тАЭ Wisely, Vinnie stifled his tremendous urge to flash. Peck would attack
anything that lit his eight black eyes.

тАЭI need to eat you right now,тАЭ Peck said reasonably.

тАЭPeck, you canтАЩt eat me, okay? Fireflies are poisonous.тАЭ

Peck had molted since the last time their paths had crossed. His bristling, aggressive body had almost
doubled in volume. Peck might be as dumb as a clod of earth, but you could never fault a jumping spider
for audacity.

The nights were growing longer, and Vinnie wasnтАЩt getting any younger. He bent his flat head and striped
thorax, tumbled sideways with an effort, then clambered to his long, hooked feet. HeтАЩd reached full size
for a firefly, and the grueling effort of his nightly displays had cost him a lot of weight. He felt
light-headed, giddy, and possessed by a frustrated lust.

PeckтАЩs fierce attack had just damaged his left midleg. The complex joint between VinnieтАЩs coxa and
femur had gone all leaky.

Peck looked a bit embarrassed. By his nature, Peck was susceptible to good sense; it was just that his
all-consuming urge to leap, bite, and devour was more than he could handle. тАЬVinnie, was that you I
jumped just now?тАЭ

тАЭYes, of course it was, and youтАЩve busted my leg. Get this straight, Peck: IтАЩm a lightning bug. If you ever
eat me, youтАЩre going to vomit and die.тАЭ

тАЭBut I thought you were just a nice, tasty beetle.тАЭ

тАЭWeтАЩve had this discussion before, Peck. Iam a beetle. All lightning bugs are beetles. Beetles of the
family Lampyridae.тАЭ