"S. M. Stirling & David Drake - The General 01 - The Forge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stirling S. M)

within great defensive walls, there were towers and low domed
structures scattered through forest and park, as if the whole
town was a nobleman's pleasaunce. The streets were merely
cleared lanes, with vehicles floating along not touching the thick
green turf beneath them; and the city was huge, stretching off
into the distance beyond what he could see. Metallic eggs moved
across the map-like landscape beneath him in slow-seeming
traceries. A ship was making passage in through the channel, a
slim thing without sails or oars or fuming smokestackтАФthe
perspective snapped home, and he knew it was a thousand
meters long or more.

The view swooped down to show people in odd, rich clothing
strolling amid unearthly splendors. In a fenced garden with a
strange double-helix sign above the gate children played with
fabulous beasts, griffins and centaurs, miniature bears and tiny
dogs no higher than a man's waist; even the ordinary riding dogs
were odd, the usual breeds seeming shrunk to no more than five
hundred pounds, smaller even than a lady's palfrey.

"Holy Spirit of Man of the Stars," Raj whispered. Tears of joy
formed at the corners of his eyes and leaked downward. "I am
not worthy!" A vision of time before the Fall! he exulted
inwardly. Why me? I'm just a soldier, not a priest. I тАж I try to
live by the SpiritтАж Sins he had neglected to Enter at the
Terminal floated up, making him wince.

no. Was there a trace of exasperation in the passionless
non-voice? this simulation is of a period roughly twenty
years after the events you refer to as the Fall, after the
last faster-than-light transit from bellevue. observe.
***
 Something flashed by him in mid-air, something moving too
quickly to see as more than a streak. Fire blossomed below; his
heart cried out in shock as the lacy towers crumpled, and he
could feel the small hairs along his spine struggling to stand
erect as the ball of flame expanded out toward him like a soap
bubble of orange and crimson. Thunder rolled impossibly loud
and long.

Wait a minute, he thought. I don't feel anything different. The
air even smells the same as it did before the vision. Why don't I
feel the wind?

this is a simulation. consider it a very good map. you
may alter your point of view by concentrating.

There was a feeling like a click behind his eyes, and the scene
swooped dizzily. Raj tumbled for a moment before regaining
control; it was as if he was a disembodied pair of eyes and ears