"Walter Jon Williams - Surfacing (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

I/YOU


IN DEFTNESS(?)


ARE WALLOWING(?)


WITH PLEASANT-SEEMING


TENDRILS(?)


OF UPWELLING REFLECTION


ARE IN A CONDITION OF


GRACE(2)


COMMUNICATING WITH


DWELLER (41?)


The man looked at him. He looked maybe twenty, but Anthony could tell he was old, centuries old maybe. Old and vain and stupid, stupid as a boy. "It's a game fish," the man said.


Anthony looked into the fisherman's eyes and saw a reflection of his own contempt. "You wanna fight," he said, "you wanna have a game, fight something smart. Not a dumb animal that you can outsmart, that once you catch it will only rot and stink."


That was the start.


Once it began, it didn't take long. The man's rings cut Anthony's face, and Anthony was smaller and lighter, but the man telegraphed every move and kept leading with his right. When it was over, Anthony left him on the floor and stepped out into the downpour, stood alone in the hammering rain and let the water wash the blood from his face. The whiskey and the rage were a flame that licked his nerves and made them sing.


He began walking down the street. Heading for another bar.


GRACE(2) meant grace in the sense of physical grace, dexterity, harmony of motion, as opposed to spiritual grace, which was GRACE(l). The Dweller that Anthony was listening to was engaged in a dialogue with another, possibly the same known to the computer as 41, who might be named "Upwelling Reflection," but Deep Dweller naming systems seemed inconsistent, depending largely on a context that was as yet opaque, and "upwelling reflection" might have to do with something else entirely.


Anthony suspected the Dweller had just said hello.