"Walter Jon Williams - The Green Leopard Plague" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)


"And the young manтАУ?"

"DoesnтАЩt remember."

Which was not exactly a lie, the point being what was remembered.

DavoutтАЩs fingers were still fixed in . "Are you all right?" he asked.

Her own fingers formed an equivocal answer. "IтАЩm getting better." Which was probably true.

"I see youтАЩre not an ape any more."

"I decided to go the mermaid route. New perspectives, all that." And welcome isolation.

"Is there any way we can make things easier for you?"

She put on a hopeful expression. "You said something about a job?"

"Yes." He seemed relieved not to have to probe furtherтАУheтАЩd had a real-death in his own family,
Michelle remembered, a chance-in-a-billion thing, and perhaps he didnтАЩt want to relive any part of
that.

"IтАЩm working on a biography of Terzian," Davout said.

" . . . And his Age?" Michelle finished.

"And his Legacy." Davout smiled. "ThereтАЩs a three-week period in his life where heтАУwell, he drops
right off the map. IтАЩd like to find out where he wentтАУand who he was with, if anyone."

Michelle was impressed. Even in comparatively unsophisticated times such as that inhabited by
Jonathan Terzian, it was difficult for people to disappear.

"ItтАЩs a critical time for him," Davout went on. "HeтАЩd lost his job at Tulane, his wife had just



file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Wal...iams%20-%20The%20Green%20Leopard%20Plague.txt (2 of 40) [10/16/2004 5:38:27 PM]
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Walter%20Jon%20Williams%20-%20The%20Green%20Leopard%20Plague.txt

diedтАУrealdeath, rememberтАУand if he decided he simply wanted to get lost, he would have all my
sympathies." He raised a hand as if to tug at the chin-whiskers that were no longer there, made a
vague pawing gesture, then dropped the hand. "But my problem is that when he resurfaces,
everythingтАЩs changed for him. In June, he delivered an undistinguished paper at the Athenai
conference in Paris, then vanished. When he surfaced in Venice in mid-July, he didnтАЩt deliver the
paper he was scheduled to read, instead he delivered the first version of his Cornucopia Theory."

MichelleтАЩs fingers formed the mudra . "How have you tried to locate him?"

"Credit card recordsтАУthey end on June 17, when he buys a lot of euros at American Express in