"Michael Swanwick - Tin Marsh" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swanwick Michael)

TIN MARSH by MICHAEL SWANWICK

Patang races through the blazing Venusian heat in a desperate flight for survival.

****

It was hot coming down into the valley. The sun was high in the sky, a harsh white
dazzle in the eternal clouds, strong enough to melt the lead out of the hills. They
trudged down from the heights, carrying the drilling rig between them. A little trickle
of metal, spill from a tanker bringing tin out of the mountains, glinted at the verge of
the road.

A traveler coming the other way, ten feet tall and anonymous in a black muscle
suit, waved at them as they passed, but, even though it had been weeks since theyтАЩd
seen another human being, they didnтАЩt wave back. The traveler passed them and
disappeared up the road. The heat had seared the ground here black and hard. They
could leave the road, if they wanted, and make almost as good time.

Patang and MacArthur had been walking for hours. They expected to walk for
hours more. But then the road twisted and down at the bottom of the long decline, in
the shadow of a basalt cliff, was an inn. Mostly their work kept them away from
roads and inns. For almost a month theyтАЩd been living in their suits, sleeping in
harness.

They looked warily at each other, mirrored visor to mirrored visor. Heat
glimmered from the engines of their muscle suits. Without a word, they agreed to
stop.

The inn radioed a fee schedule at their approach. They let their suitsтАЩ
autonomic functions negotiate for them, and carefully set the drilling rig down
alongside the building.

тАЬPut out the tarp,тАЭ MacArthur said. тАЬSo it wonтАЩt warp.тАЭ

He went inside.

Patang deployed the gold foil tarp, then followed him in.

MacArthur was already out of his suit and seated at a cast-iron table with two
cups of water in front of him when Patang cycled through the airlock. For an instant
she dared hope everything was going to be all right.

Then he looked up at her.

тАЬTen dollars a cup.тАЭ One cup was half empty. He drank the rest down in one
long gulp, and closed a hairy paw around the second cup. His beard had grown
since she had last seen it, and she could smell him from across the room.
Presumably he could smell her too. тАЬThe bastards get you coming and going.тАЭ

Patang climbed down out of her suit. She stretched out her arms as far as they