"Connie Willis - The Sidon in the Mirror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

I could not see anything that looked like a tap. тАЬWhere are they?тАЭ I asked, and Jewell pointed back the
way we had come. ,
тАЬAs far away as we kin git thim from St. Pierre and each ither so simm tripletapping fool kinтАЩt kill
ivvery-body when he blows himsilf up. The first sidonтАЩs off thit way, ten kilometers or so.тАЭ

тАЬSidon?тАЭ I said, frightened. My uncle had told me that tappers had killed the sidon and made it into a rug
after it nearly killed Jewell.

She laughed. тАЬThitтАЩs what they call the taps. Because they blow up on you and you donтАЩt even know
what hit. They make thim as safe as they can, but the comprission equipmintтАЩs metal and metal means
sparks. Ivvery once in a while that whole sky over there lights up like Chrissmiss. We built St. Pierre as
far away as we kidd, and there inтАЩt a scrap of metal in the whole place, but the hydrogen leaks are
ivverywhere. And helium. DinтАЩt we sound like a pair iv fools squeaking at each other?тАЬ She laughed
again, and I noticed that as we had stood there looking at the black horizon, my feet had begun to feel
uncomfortably hot.

It was a long walk through the darkness to the string of lights, and the whole way I watched Jewell and
wondered if I had already begun to copy her. I would not know it, of course. I had not known I was
copying my uncle either. One day he had asked me to play a song, and I had sat down at the pianoboard
and played it. When I was finished, he said, тАЬHow long have you been able to do that?тАЭ and I did not
know. Only after I had done the copying would I know it, and then only if someone told me. I trudged
after Jewell in darkness and tried, tried to copy her.



It took us nearly an hour to get to the town, and when we got there, I could see it wasnтАЩt a town at all.
What Jewell had called St. Pierre was only two tall metalpaper-covered buildings perched on plastic
frameworks nearly two meters high and a huddle of stilt-tents. Neither building had a sign over the door,
just strings of multicolored chemiloom lights strung along the eaves. They were fairly bright, and they
reflected off the metalpaper into even more light, but Jewell took off the- lantern she had strapped to
her head and held it close to the wooden openwork steps, as if I couldnтАЩt see to climb up to the front
door high above us without it.

тАЬWhy are you walking like thit?тАЭ she said when we got to the top of the steps, and for the first time I
could see her scar. It looked almost black in the colored light of the lantern and the looms, and it was
much wider than I had thought it would be, a fissure of dark puckered skin down one whole side of her
face.

тАЬWalking like what?тАЭ I said, and looked down at my feet.

тАЬLike you kinтАЩt bear to hivv your feet touch the ground.

I got my feet too hot out at the down. You didnтАЩt. So dinтАЩt walk like thit.тАЬ

тАЬIтАЩm sorry,тАЭ I said. тАЬI wonтАЩt do it anymore.тАЭ

She smiled at me, and the scar faded a little. тАЬNow you just kimiri on in and meet the girls. DinтАЩt mind if it
they say simmthing about the way you look. TheyтАЩve nivver seen a Mirror before, but theyтАЩre good girls.тАЭ
She opened the thick door. It was metalpaper backed with a thick pad of insulation. тАЬWe take our inside
shoes off out here and wear shuffles inside the abbey.тАЭ