"Charles Stross - Missile Gap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

тАЬDo you still want to stay?тАЭ he asks hesitantly. тАЬDamn, I didnтАЩt mean to sound as ifтАУтАЭ
тАЬNo, I donтАЩt mindтАУтАЭ She rolls towards him, then is brought up short by a quiet, insistent tapping that travels up
through the inner wall of the house. тАЬDamn,тАЭ she says quietly.
тАЬWhatтАЩs that?тАЭ He begins to sit up.
тАЬItтАЩs the termites.тАЭ
John listens intently. The tapping continues erratically, on-again, off-again, bursts of clattering noise. тАЬWhat is
she doing?тАЭ
тАЬThey do it about twice a day,тАЭ Maddy confesses. тАЬI put her in the number two aquarium with a load of soil
and leaves and a mesh lid on top. When they start making a racket I feed them.тАЭ
He looks surprised. тАЬThis IтАЩve got to see.тАЭ
The walls are coming back up again. Maddy stifles a sigh: itтАЩs not about her any more, itтАЩs about the
goddamn mock termites. Anyone would think they were the center of the universe and she was just here to
feed them. тАЬLetтАЩs go look, then.тАЭ John is already standing up, trying to pick up his discarded shirt with his
prosthesis. тАЬDonтАЩt bother,тАЭ she tells him. тАЬWhoтАЩs going to notice, the insects?тАЭ
тАЬI thoughtтАУтАЭ he glances at her, taken abackтАУтАЬsorry, forget it.тАЭ
She pads downstairs, pausing momentarily to make sure heтАЩs following her safely. The tapping continues,
startlingly loud. She opens the door to the utility room in the back and turns on the light. тАЬLook,тАЭ she says.
The big glass-walled aquarium sits on the worktop. ItтАЩs lined with rough-tamped earth and on top, there are
piles of denuded branches and wood shavings. ItтАЩs near dusk, and by the light filtering through the windows
she can see mock-termites moving across the surface of the muddy dome that bulges above the queenтАЩs
chamber. A group of them have gathered around a curiously straight branch: as she watches, they throw it
against the glass like a battering ram against a castle wall. A pause, then they pick it up and pull back, and
throw it again. TheyтАЩre huge for insects, almost two inches long: much bigger than the ones thronging the
mounds in the outback. тАЬThatтАЩs odd.тАЭ Maddy peers at them. тАЬTheyтАЩve grown since yesterday.тАЭ
тАЬThey? Hang on, did you take workers, orтАж?тАЭ
тАЬNo, just the queen. None of these bugs are more than a month old.тАЭ
The termites have stopped banging on the glass. They form two rows on either side of the stick, pointing their
heads up at the huge, monadic mammals beyond the alien barrier. Looking at them closely Maddy notices
other signs of morphological change: the increasing complexity of their digits, the bulges at the back of their
heads. Is the queenтАЩs changing, too? She asks herself, briefly troubled by visions of a malignant intelligence
rapidly swelling beneath the surface of the vivarium, plotting its escape by moonlight.
John stands behind Maddy and folds his arms around her. She shivers. тАЬI feel as if theyтАЩre watching us.тАЭ
тАЬBut to them itтАЩs not about us, is it?тАЭ He whispers in her ear. тАЬCome on. All thatтАЩs happening is youтАЩve trained
them to ring a bell so the experimenters give them a snack. They think the universe was made for their
convenience. Dumb insects, just a bundle of reflexes really. LetтАЩs feed them and go back to bed.тАЭ
The two humans leave and climb the stairs together, arm in arm, leaving the angry aboriginal hive to plot its
escape unnoticed.




Chapter Seventeen: ItтАЩs always October the First
Gregor sits on a bench on the Esplanade, looking out across the river towards the Statue of Liberty. HeтАЩs got
a bag of stale bread crumbs and heтАЩs ministering to the flock of pigeons that scuttle and peck around his feet.
The time is six minutes to three on the afternoon of October the First, and the year is irrelevant. In fact, itтАЩs
too late. This is how it always ends, although the onshore breeze and the sunlight are unexpected bonus
payments.
The pigeons jostle and chase one another as he drops another piece of crust on the pavement. For once he
hasnтАЩt bothered to soak them overnight in 5% warfarin solution. There is such a thing as a free lunch, if youтАЩre
a pigeon in the wrong place at the wrong time. HeтАЩs going to be dead soon, and if any of the pigeons survive