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

He looked at me strangely, smeared the blood from his hand across his shirt. тАЬMem-setтАФa mind-wiping
drug. It keeps oneтАЩs memories from being scanned. You must give it to your father, for he has secrets
that he wants to keep concealed, even beyond the grave.тАЭ

тАЬWhat? Are you crazy?тАЭ I asked, backing away. And I worried, for it seemed obvious he was crazy.

His eyes suddenly widened. тАЬYou do not know?тАЭ he asked. тАЬYour father has been arrested for giving
explosives to the Sirens. It is on the news even as we speak! He has been charged with high treason and
murder. He will surely be executed. As his only relative, you will be allowed to attend the execution. You
must give these to him before he dies!тАЭ He held out the drugs, watching the halls as if he believed the
secret police would burst into the room.

тАЬWait,тАЭ I said. I thumbed the subdural pressure switch behind my right ear and jacked into a simulcast
news holo, keeping it on multitask so I could watch the stranger at the same time. My father, Stef├бn
Elegante, was shown huddling among what must have been twenty Allied Marine troops, all of them in
their space-blue armor. They rushed through the streets of Cartagena in a block, and peasants tossed
bricks and burning sacks, shouting тАЬMurderer!тАЭ The peasants looked confused. They did not know my
fatherтАЩs crime and functioned only as a mob. The narrator said, тАЬNow we see Stef├бn Elegante, alleged
traitor to his species, rushing for cover.тАЭ I stood in shock, as my father boarded a military transport. I
jacked out of the newscast, thumbed my commlink again and read in my fatherтАЩs code, but he did not
answer the call. I jacked back into the newscast: it showed my father on a small boat offshore from our
beach home in Concepci├│n, unloading boxes into the waiting arms of the Sirens. The reporter said the
boxes held explosives.

I jacked out in shock, for I knew that this was all some magnificent lie, knew my father was innocent
despite the holos. What was their evidence? Pictures of boxes?

тАЬPlease,тАЭ the stranger said. тАЬIтАЩm a friend. IтАЩm only one of dozens who helped give your father weapons
for the Sirens. Many others like me still hope for a restored world. Yet your father knows who we are.
His memories will convict us. Alliance laws forbid the police from scanning the memories of criminals
while they live, but once your father is executed, then his right to privacy dies with him, and Alliance
surgeons will slice away his cerebral tissue so they can scan his memories at leisure. He knows this. He
promised to take the mem-set. We all promised to take mem-set if we were caught. When you go to the
execution, hold the capsules between your cheek and teeth until you get them to Stefan, then have him
bite them. This is a powerful doseтАФenough for a dozen people, but you must get it to him at least two
minutes before the execution. Once he breaks the capsules, the mem-set will form restriction enzymes.
The membranes of his neural cells will harden, and the DNA in his brain will be chopped into pieces,
destroying all his memories. Understand?тАЭ

The stranger wrapped my fingers around the capsules. тАЬIf any of us could hope to get past security to
your father, we would gladly take this task upon ourselves. Please, save us! We are desperate!тАЭ he said,
then he turned and ran.

I stood for a long time, holding the capsules, wondering what to do. I could not believe this stranger, and
I wondered if it were some plot to discredit my father. That evening, I began trying to obtain permission
to see my fatherтАФ

[Two seconds of silence.]

IтАЩm sorry. I had to turn the recorder off. I canтАЩt think. This day hasexhausted me. I am so angry