"Peter Watts - Bulk Food" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watts Peter)

RamonaтАЩs smile shows more teeth than usual.
This looks very promising. Doug glances back over his
shoulder; the routeтАЩs still clear. Fifty-five secondsтАж
Shamu rolls past on the other side of the plexi.
The crowd laughs. Doug turns back to center stage. RamonaтАЩs
had enough; sheтАЩs jumped down from TetsuoтАЩs perch and is
barking at Herschel in Japanese. Or maybe in sea lion. Herschel
backs away, hands held up placatingly against RamonaтАЩs advance.
ItтАЩs entertaining enough, but Doug keeps his eyes on Tetsuo. The
kid is the key. Adult squabbles donтАЩt interest a ten-year-old, heтАЩs
strapped in at the controls of the best bloody video game since the
parents' groups came down on Nintendo. If itтАЩs going to happen at
all, Doug knows, itтАЩs going to happenтАФ
Tetsuo squeezes the trigger.
тАФNow.
Ramona turns just in time to see the harpoon strike home. The
crowd cheers. Tetsuo shrieks in delight. Shamu just shrieks,
thrashing. A pink cloud puffs from his blowhole.
Doug is already half-turned, one foot raised to motor. He checks
himself: Wait for it, it still might be cleanтАж
тАЬShit! You were supposed to wait!тАЭ RamonaтАЩs mike is off-line
but it doesnтАЩt matter; you could hear that yell all the way over in
the Arctic Exhibit. She brings her translator online, barks
syllables. The ringside speakers chirp and whistle. Shamu
whistles back, spasming as though electrocuted. His flukes churn
the water into pink froth.
тАЬHis lungтАЩs punctured,тАЭ Ramona calls over to the guy with the
cattle prod. Prodmeister disappears backstage. Ramona wheels on
Tetsuo. тАЬYou were supposed to wait until I told him to hold still!
12 Peter Watts

Do you want him to suffer? ItтАЩll take days to die from a hit like
that!тАЭ
ThatтАЩs it. Go.
He knows whatтАЩs coming. Herschel, out his ten thousand
dollars, will demand that his son get another chance. The
Aquarium will stand firm; ten grand buys one shot, not one kill.
No, sir, you canтАЩt try again unless youтАЩre willing to pay.
Herschel's own shrieks will go ultrasonic. Prodmeister will
come back with another harpoon, a bigger, no-nonsense harpoon
this time. Perhaps the Guests will try and wrestle it away. That's
resulted in an unfortunate accident or two.
DoesnтАЩt matter. DougтАЩs not going to be around for any of it,
heтАЩs already halfway out of the amphitheater. From the corner of
his eye he can see his competition, caught flat-footed, just starting
to rise from the bleachers. Some of them, closer to the main
theater entrance, would still have a chance to beat him if he was
going the usual route. HeтАЩs not. Doug Largha may be the first
person in recorded history to have actually read the award-winning
educational displays in the underwater gallery, and that gives him