"Dave Wolverton - Siren Song at Midnight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wolverton Dave)

major spoke to me softly and escorted me back in line with the reporters. My father watched, his eyes
riveted on me. He wept as Major Gutierrez read the list of charges and called his troops to ready their
arms.

My father shouted. тАЬSomeday, we will rebuild this world! The time will come when your children will
play in rain forests, and canaries and hummingbirds will fill the skies! Every beast of the field will be
reborn!тАЭ

The troops raised their rifles. тАЬFishes will swim in your rivers!тАЭ

тАЬAim!тАЭ Gutierrez ordered.

тАЬCrickets will make music in your pastures, and whales will sing love songs in the seas!тАЭ my father cried.
тАЬYou watch! It will happen!тАЭ

тАЬFire!тАЭ Gutierrez shouted, and the rifles spat their bullets, filling the bright courtyard with smoke.

My father staggered back, red holes gaping in his shirt. He stared up in the air, beyond the heads of those
in the firing squad, and his eyes filled with light, as if he saw salvation hurtling through the sky. The look
on his face was so filled with awe, so compelling, that everyone suddenly turned and gazed into the sky
also, and then I heard him cry тАЬGod,тАЭ and he spun and staggered against the stone wall, smearing blood
on the ash-gray stones.

I sit here in my terrarium and look at my littleEuparkeriaand strokehis neck. IтАЩm out of eggs to
feed him, yet my wingless dragon stands onhis back legs, tenderly searching the folds of my dress,
expecting an eggto magically appear. It has been nearly three hours since I broke themem-set
between my teeth. Opalescent clouds seem to be forming at theedge of my vision, and everything
looks as if it is covered with gauze orsilken threads. My feet and fingers are so numb I do not feel
them, yet mymouth burns as if it is on fire. I believe the mem-set has begun attackingmy DNA,
chopping it in pieces so fine that in a million years, even Godmay not be able to put me back
together. 1 cannot talk into this microphone much longer .

On my way home. I jacked into a news broadcast. The reporter saysthat the Alliance of Earth
Nations is considering plans to exile the Sirensto Darius Four, a water planet without human
occupants. So, the pollution will continue unabated. I could not help thinking that though
theSirens lost their brief battle, they have won themselves a world, while dayby day we are losing
ours.

Also on the news, I heard a reporter say that as my father died, he shouted тАЬ┬бVivan los Sirenos!Long
live the Sirens!тАЭ

But that is not true. I was there. He shouted only one word, crying with a thrill of hope in his voice: тАЬ
┬бVivamos!тАЭ Let us live!

[Uninterrupted silence to end of tape.]