"Joan D. Vinge - Psiren" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Joan D)

and she was afraid; before weтАЩd learned to trust each other more than any two
human beings had the right to. Before IтАЩd saved her life and SiebelingтАЩs by ending
someone elseтАЩsтАФand lost it all. The music and the awareness of unreal distances
around us came back to me slowly, as the glissen numbed my memory. тАЬWhat do
you do in this place, anyhow?тАЭ

Jule lifted her head, tension still in the half-smiling corners of her mouth. тАЬI
donтАЩt know. Meditate?тАЭ

I glanced down at the data bracelet covering the old scar on my right wrist.
My credit balance had dropped a hundred points. I looked at it again. тАЬWhew. It
better be more than sitting on clouds.тАЭ

Jule glanced down at her own bracelet; her fist pressed the center of her chest.
There must have been a time when a hundred credits didnтАЩt mean anything to her.
But that was somewhere in another life, and now whenever she thought of money
she thought of the Center first. тАЬI guess you donтАЩt do anything in Oldcity without
considering the consequences,тАЭ rueful.

I nodded. тАЬThatтАЩs your first lesson. The second one is that most of the time
you donтАЩt get the chance to think about it.тАЭ She started to get up, and I thought
about going out into the street again. тАЬWaitтАФtill we know if thereтАЩs anything else.
WeтАЩre paying for it.тАЭ

She didnтАЩt object. She settled back into her seat; we began to talk, but not
about what had just happened. The glissen began to make our words slur and our
minds wander. After a while the murmuring choir music faded. In the blue distance
ahead of me a dark opening appeared like a wormhole from another universe. A
figure came through it, walking softly on air to a place in the center of the
cloudsitters. тАЬWe welcome you to the Haven.тАЭ The figure bowed, wrapped in dark
folds glittering with stars; I couldnтАЩt tell whether it was male or female, even from the
voice. тАЬWe hope your time here has been one of tranquility and peace. To further
deepen your experience we give you the Dreamweaver, who will open to you the
secret places of your soul.тАЭ

I glanced at Jule, rolling my eyes; but she sat half turned away, watching the
act as though it mattered. The figure raised its arms and folded in on itself,
disappearing. The crowd gasped. I jerked, wondering whether weтАЩd seen a teleport.
But Jule turned back and said, тАЬJust a projection.тАЭ

I shrugged. All done with mirrors. As I sat watching, a light began to fall from
above us, a captive star drawn down out of the night. It settled where the projection
had been, and as the light faded there was total silence in the room. I waited for more
cheap tricks, wondering how they ever got enough of the audience back to this place
twice to make it pay.

As the light faded I began to make out another form inside it, a human body. I
kept blinking, trying to clear the dazzle out of my eyes. It was a child ... it was a tiny,
fragile woman, lost in a shining silver robe. Her arms were bare, hung with bands and
bracelets showing colored fire; her skin was no color IтАЩd ever seen before,