"Peter Watts - Home" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watts Peter)

But this is the first time it's actually seen that gaping, toothless
ruin where a mouth used to be. It knows this isn't right, somehow.
"тАФEverything is automaticтАФ"
A sudden muffled buzz cuts into the noise, then fades. Welcome
silence returns for a moment. Then different sounds, quieter than
before, almost hushed:
"Christ, Judy, is that you?"
It knows that sound.
"Judy Caraco? It's Jeannette Ballard. Remember? We went
through prelim together. Judy? Can you speak?"
That sound comes from a long time ago.
"Can you hear me, Judy? Wave if you can hear me."
Back when this one was part of something larger, not an it at all,
then, butтАФ
"The machine didn't recognize you, you know? It was only
programmed for locals."
тАФshe.
Clusters of neurons, long dormant, sparkle in the darkness. Old,
forgotten subsystems stutter and reboot.
IтАФ
Home 7

"You've come тАФ my God, Judy, do you know where you are?
You went missing off Juan de Fuca! You've come over three
thousand kilometers!"
It knows my name. She can barely think over the sudden
murmuring in her head.
"Judy, it's me. Jeannette. God, Judy, how did you last this
long?"
She can't answer. She's just barely starting to understand the
question. There are parts of her still asleep, parts that won't talk,
still other parts completely washed away. She doesn't remember
why she never gets thirsty. She's forgotten the tidal rush of human
breath. Once, for a little while, she knew words like
photoamplification and myoelectric; they were nonsense to her
even then.
She shakes her head, trying to clear it. The new parts тАФ no, the
old parts, the very old parts that went away and now they've come
back and won't shut the fuck up тАФ are all clamoring for attention.
She reaches into the bubble again, past her own reflection; once
again, the ventral airlock pushes back.
"Judy, you can't get into the station. No one's there.
Everything's automated now."
She brings her hand back to her face, tugs at the line between
black and gray. More shadow peels back from the wraith, leaving
a large pale oval with two smaller ovals, white and utterly
featureless, inside. The flesh around her mouth is going prickly
and numb.
My face! something screams. What happened to my eyes?
"You don't want to go inside anyway, you couldn't even stand up.