"Vernor Vinge - A Deepness in the Sky" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Vernor)

close to the otherтАЩs. тАЬYou know these people IтАЩve brought with me. Do you doubt that if I give the word,
they will take your cemeterium apart, piece by piece? Do you doubt that if we donтАЩt find what I seek here,
weтАЩll do the same to every cemeterium of your order, all over this world?тАЭ

It was clear that Brother Song did not doubt. He knew the Forestry Department. Yet for a moment Sammy
was afraid that Song would stand up even to that.And I will then do what I must do. Abruptly, the old man
seemed to crumple in on himself, weeping silently.

Sammy stood back from his chair. Some seconds passed. The old man stopped crying and struggled to his
feet. He didnтАЩt look at Sammy or gesture; he simply shuffled out of the room.

Sammy and his entourage followed. They walked single-file down a long corridor. There was horror here.
It wasnтАЩt in the dim and broken lighting or the water-stained ceiling panels or the filthy floor. Along the


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 A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY

corridor, people sat on sofas or wheeled chairs. They sat, and stared. . .at nothing. At first, Sammy
thought they were wearing head-up-displays, that their vision was far away, maybe in some consensual
imagery. After all, a few of them were talking, a few of them were making constant, complicated gestures.
Then he noticed that the signs on the walls werepainted there. The plain, peeling wall material was simply
all there was to see. And the withered people sitting in the hall had eyes that were naked and vacant.

Sammy walked close behind Brother Song. The monk was talking to himself, but the words made sense.
He was talking about The Man: тАЬBidwel Ducanh was not a kindly man. He was not someone you could
like, even at the beginning. . .especially at the beginning. He said he had been rich, but he brought us
nothing. The first thirty years, when I was young, he worked harder than any of us. There was no job too
dirty, no job too hard. But he had ill to say of everyone. He mocked everyone. He would sit by a patient
through the last night of life, and then afterwards sneer.тАЭ Brother Song was speaking in the past tense, but
after a few seconds Sammy realized that he was not trying to convince Sammy of anything. Song was not
even talking to himself. It was as if he were speaking a wake for someone he knew would be dead very
soon. тАЬAnd then as the years passed, like all the rest of us, he could help less and less. He talked about his
enemies, how they would kill him if they ever found him. He laughed when we promised to hide him. In
the end, only his meanness survivedтАФand that without speech.тАЭ

Brother Song stopped before a large door. The sign above it was brave and floral:TO THE SUNROOM .

тАЬDucanh will be the one watching the sunset.тАЭ But the monk did not open the door. He stood with his
head bowed, not quite blocking the way.

Sammy started to walk around him, then stopped, and said, тАЬThe payment I mentioned: It will be
deposited to your orderтАЩs account.тАЭ The old man didnтАЩt look up at him. He spat on SammyтАЩs jacket and
then walked back down the hall, pushing past the constables.

Sammy turned and pulled at the doorтАЩs mechanical latch.

тАЬSir?тАЭ It was the Commissioner of Urban Security. The cop-bureaucrat stepped close and spoke softly.
тАЬUm. We didnтАЩt want this escort job, sir. This should have been your own people.тАЭ