"Joan D. Vinge, txt v2.0, To Bell the Cat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Joan D)

Jary stopped and turned back to look at him. And Corouda realized that the expression on his face was not gratitude, but something closer to hatred.

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"All right, you're safely across. I'll wait here for you."

Jary stood alone in the darkness on the far side of the Split, pinned in the beam of Orr's headlamp. He nodded, breathing hard, unsure of his voice.

"You know your way from here, and what to do. Go and do it." Orr's voice was cutting; Orr was angry again, because Etchamendy had supported Soong-Hyacin's complaint.

Jary reached down for the carrying case at his feet. He shut his eyes as he used his hand, twitched the strap hurriedly up onto his shoulder. He turned his back on Orr without answering and started on into the cave.

"Don't come back without them!"

Jary bit down on the taste of unaccustomed fury and kept walking. Orr was sending him into the cave totally alone to bring back more trogs, to complete his penance. As if his stiffened, bandaged hands weren't enough to convince him how much of a fool he'd been. He had lost half his supper on the ground because his hands could barely hold a spoon ... he would catch hell for his clumsy lab work tomorrow ... he couldn't even have the comfort of touching his stones. Orr didn't give a damn if he broke both his legs, and had to crawl all the way to the cave's heart and back ... Orr didn't care if he broke his neck, or drowned in radioactive mud -

Jary stopped suddenly in the blackness. What was wrong with him; why did he feel like this - ? He looked back, falling against the wall as the crazy dance of his headlamp made him dizzy. There was no echoing beam of light; Orr was already beyond sight. Deliberately he tightened his hands, startling himself back into reason with a curse. Orr wouldn't have made him do this if he thought it would get him killed; Orr hated waste.

Jary pushed himself away from the wall, looking down at the patches of dried mud that still caked his suit. Most of it had fallen off as he walked; his dosimeters barely registered what was left. He started on, moving more slowly, picking his way across the rubble where the ledge narrowed. After all, he wasn't in any hurry to bring back more trogs; to let Orr prove all over again how futile it had been to turn them loose ... how futile his own suffering had been; how futile everything was -

And all at once he understood. It was Corouda. "Corouda - !" He threw the word like a challenge into the blackness. That damned Corouda was doing this to him. Corouda, who had pretended interest to draw him out, and then used false pity like a scalpel on his sanity: telling him that just because he couldn't remember his crimes, he was guiltless; that he was being punished for no reason. Trying to make him believe that he had suffered years of hatred and abuse for nothing. No, he was guilty, guilty! And Corouda had done it to him because Corouda was like all the rest. The whole universe hated him; except for Orr. Orr was all he had. And Orr had told him to bring the trogs, or else. He slipped unexpectedly and fell down, going to his elbows to save his hands. Orr was all he had ...

- - - - - - -

Isthp: We must make the shining mobile understand us. How shall we do it, Mng? They do not sense our communication. (Thin darkness) Mng: But they see us. We must show them an artifact ... a pressure suit, perhaps; to reveal our level of technology, and our plight, together. (Mudpools vibrate with escaping gases) (Patterns of light)

Isthp: Exactly! I will rouse my second Nimble; it is my smallest, perhaps it can still wear a suit ... I summon ... (Find the suit, and bear it upward) (Weave the circle together)

Ahm: We will not allow you to do this. We are the majority; we forbid contact with the alien's mobile. We will stop you if you try it. (Cold fluid lapping basalt)

Isthp: But its sessile is a creature of good will; even you must admit that, Ahm - it set your mobiles free. (My patterns are subtle) (Pulse softly and glow)

Ahm: I saw great shining fingers reaching toward me ... fear, hope ... to set my mobiles free ... But the thing we must communicate is that we wish to be left alone! Let us use the shining mobile as a warning, if the aliens return again. It can make the invisible aliens visible, and let us flee in time. (Draw in the circle) (Draw in) (Strange radiance)

Mng: No, we must ask more! Show it that we are an intelligent life form, however alien. We must seek its help to rescue us from this forsaken place! (Close the net) (Mobiles draw in) (A light in the darkness)

Ahm, Scwa, Tfod, Zhek: No. No. (Radiance, strange light)

Isthp: Yes, beloved friend Mng - we will have our freedom, and the stars: Look, look with all your mobiles; it shows itself! It shines - (Strange radiance) (Light flickering like gamma through galena) (Hurry! Bear the suit upward)

Ahm: The shining one returns! Take care, take care - (Patches of radiance flowing closer)

Bllr: Break the pattern, prepare to flee. Make its light our warning. (It shines) (Prepare for flight) (Prepare)

Mng: Make it our hope! (Patches of radiance) (It shines)

- - - - - - -

Echoes of his fall came back to Jary from a sudden distance; he guessed that he must be close to the main chamber already. He climbed to his feet, unable to crawl, and eased past the slick patch of metallic ore. It flashed silver in his light as he looked down, making him squint. The red pathmarkers fell away beyond it; he fumbled his way down the rough incline, half sliding, feeling the ceiling arch and the walls withdraw around him.