"Sheri S. Tepper - After Long Silence" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

BDL's interest was in Tasmin's interest. He contented himself with a fierce look in Jamieson's direction
that was countered with one of bland incomprehension. The trouble was that he and Jamieson
understood one another far too well.

He gave Clarin a shake and a pat, then watched with approval as she sat up on the mule and wiped her
face. She was very pale but composed. Her hair made a dark shadow on her skull, and the skin over her
high, beautifully modeled cheekbones was softly flushed. She had made a quick recovery.

"Ooh, that makes me seethe," she grated. "I'd like to тАж "

"To demolish a few Presences, right? I know the feeling. Look at them, though, Clarin! Look down
there!"

He pointed down the long slope in front of them where the False Eagers stood. She followed his gaze.
Light scintillated from the Eagers in ringed rainbows, corruscating and glittering, a rhapsodic symphony of
color, the flocks of gyre-birds twisting around them, a swirling garment of changeable smoke.

"Would you want to destroy that?" he asked.

"No," she said at last. "I really wouldn't."

"To say nothing of PEC orders to the contrary," Jamieson remarked drily. "The Planetary Exploitation
Council strictures do prohibit demolition of anything except deepsoil encroachment."

"Little ones," she sighed. " 'Lets or 'lings. Nothing like that."

"Nothing like that," Tasmin agreed. "Now, I'd like you to pay some attention to the aspect of the
Watchers from this direction." He dropped into his dry, lecture-time voice, trying to turn their attention to
something besides the possibility of totally arbitrary annihilation. "The score is different coming from the
west, of course, and it's an uphill climb, which means a longer reach, musically. It's called the 'trouble
side,' though the westside score is actually simpler, both vocally and in orchestral effects. I'd suggest we
get a move on. We have the False Eagers, the Startles, and Riddance Ridge to pass yet today before we
go down the deepsoil pass to Harmony."

The first-timers took turns on the winding road beside the Eagers, a repetitive canon on one simple
theme. James started well enough, but he got worse as the trip progressed. Refnic sang them through the
Startles with practiced ease. As Jamieson had predicted, James froze in mid PJ on Riddance Ridge
during an a capella series of phrases without any orchestral effects to cover the quiet. There was a
moment of hideous silence. The ground began to tremble beneath them, but just as Tasmin opened his
mouth to pick up the vocal Jamieson began singing, missing hardly a syllable, his voice soaring
effortlessly. The ground beneath them quieted. When they had come across, Tasmin stopped them and
passed his field glasses around, pointing out the wreckage of wagons that lay in a weathered tumble at
the foot of the ridge.

It was hard to make a point in a whisper, but Tasmin could not let it wait. "James, that's the result of too
little knowledge, too many assumptions, bad preparations, or Tripsingers who freeze. There's nothing
wrong with being a good backup man. The orchestral effects are just as important as the vocals. If you
can't depend on yourself for the vocals, for Erickson's sake, don't risk your life and those of other
people." James was white with shame and frustration. He had been badly frightened by the explosion at
the foot of the Watchers, but so had they all. Jamieson's face was bland. He was too bright even to hint