"Tepper, Sheri S - A Plague Of Angels - plangel4" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

anything else that might go Wrong. Pills and a sip tube for Water, and behind
her, in the cubicle, in her own space... ~-, ~L u~ hysterical and ill's and
· Drowsily she conside . ' P · for
long time ago Dad '~ red what Was behind her, in her OWn Space. All that
· dy had said it WaSh
He Was Wrong. She'd 't a daughter's business to go along.
gerber .... told him they should stay together. '41ways Stay lo-

Ander kept his eyes on her face as she SWallowed the pills, as she shut
her eyes and squirmed briefly against the restraints that held her. Something
obscene in that movement. Like the Cuddling of a ghoul. The COupling
monsters. What Was she thinking? What was she planning? of
that featureless mask? Being this near her made him Uncomfortable.
from the revulsion he felt at her physical presence h- . What Was Under
'4side
a stab in the back or, at the very least, a iab~,^-~ '. e was always expecting
Was, all relaxed, beginning to breathe softly, steadily. · Here she
~ ~,cu msult. Nothing
He waited until she Was quite asleep, then Unfastened his own belt and
dril~ed, as he'd Wanted to do ever since
Exhilarating! He tugged himself here they had Started. It was WOnderful!
What fun ! and there, actually giggling like
He stopped, his eyes a child.
....
dOWnY She had looked at his sleeves, reached' Just before the helmet Zn~
· nacl said to him · ° ~ ,u me t~Ooth, sto,~,e~,
"1 dyy~! t,~at fabric. In Wiltbr Ponde's shop in Whitherby.,,
" ,.,,ht~,ClthadS%~s~ outto touch them, andsaid,
Were d ddenly aghast. "Not · ou ~'
"In Wilfer Ponde's shop, in Whitherby, she'd said again as the helmet
had COme down. ,. If she~if this ,one Y. . ' Craftsmen~-craftsmen
It was the last thing she'd said. There had been no time for him to do
anything. The helmet Was down, and she Was silent. It Was too late. Done,
and too late.
Resolutely, he put it out of his mind. She Could have been lying. She must

·
have been. Though how she knew the name of the dyer's shop Where his
thbrics Came from, he could not imagine. What Would a craftsman be doing
here, in this place?
He shook his head. He had to attend to business. Several Family members


370 Sheri S. Tepper

had seen Ellel's servants bring something odd aboard. Something that might be--well, a weapon perhaps'? Something the Andors needed to know about. No,~ that Ellel was asleep, drugged, unlikely to wake, it would be a good time to \ook \n~.o the matter.
He pulled himself back past the guidance system, without a glance at Oily, through the door, past the toilets and galley, into the long circular space with the cubicles all around it, each one with its sliding door, its own little window into space. The first door was Ellel's. The only one Wifh a lock. Ander smiled. He had thought there might be some locked compartments on the space station, so he'd had Mitty's people make him a gadget that could unlock them.
Which it did, in time. The lock beepod, the cubicle door opened. The long bundle he had seen brought aboard lay on the bunk, held down by straps. He unfastened the top one in order to untie the cords and fold back the blankets...
And then felt himself yelling, felt the vibration of his own vocal cords, the rawness of his own throat rasping with no one at all to hear him, no one to understand what he saw, no one but himself to see this thing lying on the bunk, this walker lying on the bunk with someone's cut-off face sewn to its head, a Ihce he knew, Jark IIl's lhce, and someone's cut-off chest laced around its torso, and someone's--someone's organ prominently displayed below, all dried, dried like leather, shriveled like old gloves, old shoes, all tied around a walker who looked up at him from dead eyes with its red, red glare and said in its dry voice, "Yes, yes, daughter, yes, princess, yes, yes, yes ....