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

Even then, I wouldnтАЩt have known she was blind except that my uncle had told me. тАЬMost of the girls are
newcomers Jewell hired for Paylay right off the ships, before the happy houses could ruin them,тАЬ my
uncle had said. тАЭShe only brought a couple of the girls with her from Solfatara, girls who worked with her
in the happy house she came out of. Carnie, and I think Sapphire, and Pearl, the blind one.тАЬ

тАЬBlind?тАЭ I had said. Solfatara is a long way out, but any place has doctors.
тАЬHe cutтАж the optic nerve was severed. They did orb implants and reattached all the muscles, but it was
only cosmetic repair. She canтАЩt see anything.тАЭ

Even after all the horrible stories I had heard about Solfatara, it had shocked me to think that someone
could do something like that. I remember thinking that the man must have been incredibly cruel to have
done such a thing, that it would have been kinder to kill her outright than to have left her helpless and
injured like that in a place like Solfatara. тАЬWho did it to her?тАЭ I said.

тАЬA tapper,тАЭ he said, and for a minute he looked very much like Kovich, so much that I asked, тАЬWas it
the same man who broke KovichтАЩs hands?тАЭ тАЬYes,тАЭ my uncle said.

тАЬDid they kill him?тАЭ I said, but that was not the question I had intended to ask. I had meant did Kovich
kill him, but I had said тАЬthey.тАЭ

And my uncle, not looking like Kovich at all, had said, тАЬYes, they killed him,тАЭ as if that were the right
question after all.

The orb implants and the muscle reattachments had been very good. Her eyes were a beautiful pale gray,
and someone had taught her to follow voices with them. There was nothing at all in the angle of her head
or her eyes or her quiet hands to tell me she was blind or make me pity her, and standing there looking
down at her, I was glad, glad that they had killed him. I hoped that they had cut his eyes out first.

Carnie darted past us with the remedy case, and I said, still looking down at Pearl, тАЬIтАЩll go and see if I
can help her.тАЭ I went back out into the anteroom and watched while Carnie put some kind of oil on
JewellтАЩs feet and then a meshlike pad, and wrapped her feet in bandages.

тАЬThis is Carnelian,тАЭ Jewell said. тАЬCarnie, this is our new pianoboard player.тАЭ

She smiled at me. She looked very young. She must have been only a child when she worked in the
happy house on Solfatara with Jewell.

тАЬI bit you can do real fancy stuff with those hands,тАЭ she said, and giggled.

тАЬDonтАЩt tease him,тАЭ Jewell said. тАЬHeтАЩs here to play the pianoboard.тАЭ

тАЬI meant on the pianoboard. You dinтАЩt look like a real mirror. You know, shiny and ivverything? Who
are you going to copy?тАЭ

тАЬHeтАЩs not going to copy innybody,тАЭ Jewell said sharply. тАЬHeтАЩs going to play the pianoboard, and thatтАЩs
all. Is supper riddy?тАЭ

тАЬNo. I was jist in the kitchen and Sapphire wasnтАЩt even there yit.тАЭ She looked back up at me. тАЬWhen
you copy somebody, do you look like them?тАЭ тАЬNo,тАЭ I said. тАЬYouтАЩre thinking of a chameleon.тАЭ тАЬYouтАЩre