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

Okay, so Port Ishtar wasnтАЩt perfect. You ate flavored algae and you slept on a
shelf. During the day you wore silk, because it was cheap, and you went everywhere
barefoot because shoes cost money. But there were fountains that sprayed water
into the air. There was live music in the restaurants, string quartets playing to the big
winners, prospectors who had made a strike and were leaking wealth on the way out.
If you werenтАЩt too obvious about it, you could stand nearby and listen. Gravity was
light, then, and everybody was young, and the future was going to be full of money.

That was then. She was a million years older now.

LASER HAZARD
 тАЬHey!тАЭ

тАЬKeep walking, bitch. Keep walking or die.тАЭ

****

This couldnтАЩt be happening.

Hours passed, and more hours, until she completely lost track of the time.
They walked. Up out of the valley. Over the mountain. Down into the next valley.
Because of the heat, and because the rocks were generally weak, the mountains all
had gentle slopes. It was like walking up and then down a very long hill.

The land was grey and the clouds above it murky orange. These were VenusтАЩ
true colors. She could have grass-green rocks and a bright blue sky if she
wishedтАФher visor would do thatтАФbut the one time sheтАЩd tried those settings, sheтАЩd
quickly switched back. The falseness of it was enough to break your heart.

Better to see the bitter land and grim sky for what they were.

West, they traveled. Noonward. It was like a endless and meaningless dream.

тАЬHey, Poontang.тАЭ

тАЬYou know how I feel about that kind of language,тАЭ she said wearily.

тАЬHow you feel. ThatтАЩs rich. How do you think I felt, some of the things you
said?тАЭ

тАЬWe can make peace, MacArthur. It doesnтАЩt have to be like this.тАЭ

тАЬEver been married, Poontang?тАЭ

тАЬYou know I havenтАЩt.тАЭ

тАЬI have. Married and divorced.тАЭ She knew that already. There was very little
they didnтАЩt know about each other by now. тАЬThing is, when a marriage breaks up,
thereтАЩs always one person comes to grips with it first. Goes through all the heartache
and pain, feels the misery, mourns the death of the relationshipтАФand then moves on.