"Michael Swanwick - Mother Grasshopper" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swanwick Michael)

possible to live forever. They think there are no limits to growth. But
everything dies -- people, stars, the universe. And once it's over, all lives
are the same length."

"I guess I'm just not so philosophical as you. It's a damned hard thing to lose
your wife."

"Well, at least you figured that one out."

"What one?

"That I'm your wife." She was silent a moment. Then she said, "I had another
dream. About your magician. And he explained about the drug. The one he called
mortality."

"Huh," I said. Not really caring.

"The drug I took, you wake up and you burn through your life in a matter of
days. With the new version, you wake up with a normal human lifespan, the length
people had before the immortality treatments. One hundred fifty, two hundred
years -- that's not so immediate. The suicides are kept alive because their
deaths come on so soon; it's too shocking to the survivors' sensibilities. The
new version shows its effects too slowly to be stopped."

I stroked her long white hair. So fine. So very, very brittle. "Let's not talk
about any of this."

Her eyes blazed "Let's do! Don't pretend to be a fool, Daniel. People multiply.
There's only so much food, water, space. If nobody dies, there'll come a time
when everybody dies." Then she smiled again, fondly, the way you might at a
petulent but still promising child. "You know what's required of you, Daniel.
And I'm proud of you for being worthy of it."

Sky Terminus was enormous, dazzling, beyond description. It was exactly like in
Vickie's dream. I helped her out onto the platform. She could barely stand by
then, but her eyes were bright and curious. Jonathan was asleep against my chest
in a baby-sling.

Whatever held the atmosphere to the platform, it offered no resistance to the
glittering, brilliantly articulated ships that rose and descended from all
parts. Strange cargoes were unloaded by even stranger longshoremen.

"I'm not as excited by all this as I would've been when I was younger," Victoria
murmured. "But somehow I find it more satisfying. Does that make sense to you?"

I began to say something. But then, abruptly, the light went out of her eyes.
Stiffening, she stared straight ahead of herself into nothing that I could see.
There was no emotion in her face whatsoever.

"Vickie?" I said.