"A. E. Van Vogt - The Silkie" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

Her father followed her, and as she turned to look at him, she saw that his happy mood had faded.
'We're just hired,' he said. 'I put that act on for Sylvia.'

Marie said nothing, and he evidently construed her silence as an accusation, for he defended himself. 'I
couldn't help it, honey. I couldn't let even a remote chance go by.'

'Tell me the whole story, dear,' Marie said soothingly.

Her father was disconsolate. 'Oh, some old fraud claims he's got a method of rejuvenation, and these
elderly rou├йs are grabbing at the hope. I pretended an interest in the hope of getting something out of it,
and I did.'

Actually, it was a victory of sorts. From the wreck of his own plans, George had salvaged that magical
relationship, further contact. Just what it would mean to have Reicher on board was obscure. But here
Reicher would be.

'Do we take along the diving equipment?' she asked matter-of-factly.

'Naturally,' said her father.

The thought seemed to cheer him.


2
FOR THE sea it was another day of many. The water felt its way with practiced skill among the rocks
and coral of that remote island. Here, on the sand backwater, it whispered a soft sound. There, on a reef,
it roared at the resistance of the hard rock. But all its noisier emotions were on the surface. In the depths
off shore, the ocean was quiet.

Marie sat on the deck of the somewhat dilapidated cruiser and felt at one with the sky, the sea, and the
island where the men had gone ashore. She was glad that nobody had suggested bridge for the ladies
while they waited for the men to return. It was midafternoon, and the ladies were probably all napping, so
she had the ocean universe to herself.

Her idle gaze caught a movement in the water, and she glanced down. And then she leaned forward,
gazing downward, startled.

A human figure was swimming far down in the water below her тАФ at least forty feet down.

The sea was singularly transparent, and the sandy bottom was visible. A number of colorful parrot fish
wheeled in those crystal-clear depths and sped out of sight into the shadows of the cliffside closer to the
shore.

The man was swimming with great ease. But what was amazing was that he was so far down and that,
distorted by water movement, his body looked strange, not quite human.

Even as she had that thought, he glanced up, saw her, and swiftly, with enormous power, darted up
toward her.

And only then, as he broke free of the sea, did Marie realise.