"Marc Stiegler - David's Sling" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stiegler Marc)

THE BUILDERS

April 18

AH sfde effects are effects.
We can never do merely one thing.
тАФFirst Law Of Ecology

Glare. Howling wind. A rope sliding upward in the
snow. Sharp-cut steps in the mountainside. His leg strain-
ing to take that next step. Hilan Forstil knew nothing
beyond that next step. He balanced on the dull edge of
unconsciousness, yet he took that next step. And the next,

He remembered this feeling from long ago. The feeling
was one of exhaustionтАФan exhaustion so deep that even
the thought of death did not bother him. The memory
came from a time over two decades in his pastтАФfrom his
time m Nigeria, working among starving children.

Such exhaustion made one sloppy, he knew. And such
sloppmess was dangerous in struggles like this. The dan-
ger to himself didn t bother himтАФafter all, he didn't care
if he diedтАФbut it disturbed him that an error here could
kill his rope partner, ^

On the other hand, it was her faylt that they were here
at all. An image Hashed in his mind of Jan's face at then-
last rest stop. The Hush of her cheeks, the brilliant fury of
her blue eyes . . . her energy seemed too intense to be
healthy. Dimly, he remembered having had such energy
himself, standing at the base of the mountain. But the
mountain and its vertical miles of glacial white had con-
sumed him- It had not consumed her.

He wanted to curse her.

And he wanted to thank her. With every step he com-
pleted, he touched an inner power he had forgotten. He
had worked so hard the last two decades to forge the took
of external power; such tools seemed fragile now.

The rope slackened. Hilan breathed a sigh of relief and
slowed to match the speed of the rope. Keep the rope just
barely dragging the ground between us, Jan had explained

4 Marc Stiegler

the day before, except during aтАФthe rope yanked taut,
causing Hilan to stumbleтАФswitchback}