"Timothy Zahn - Manta's Gift" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

As if he'd had any choice in the matter.

And then the paramedics had come. None of them had cried or gasped or pleaded. But their
foreheads had been wrinkled, too, as they eased him onto the rescue sled.

Alan and Bobbi had been in twice to see him since his arrival at the hospital. Mostly they'd smiled
their false smiles, talked loudly with false cheer, and muttered platitudes with false hope. Each time
they'd made their escape as quickly as they could.

He hadn't seen Brianna at all. He'd thought about her a lot during the long, silent hours; pictured her
smiling face, her easy laughter and spontaneity, her quick and unjudgmental acceptance of everyone
and everything that came her way. He'd wished desperately that she would come by and brighten his
darkening existence, at least for a little while.

But she hadn't, and he doubted now that she ever would. Brianna was the outdoors type, heavily into
sports and hiking and fresh air and sunshine.


file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Timothy%20Zahn%20-%20Manta's%20Gift.htm (17 of 298) [10/18/2004 3:39:27 PM]
Manta's Gift

A girl like that had no time for a cripple.

There was a tap on his open door. "Mr. Raimey?"

It was a man's voice, unfamiliar to him. Raimey's neck still worked; he could have turned his head to
see who it was. He didn't bother. "Doctor, biotron whiz, or chaplain?" he asked shortly.

Not that it mattered. None of them could help him anyway. All that mattered was that it wasn't
Brianna.

The voice didn't answer. He heard soft footsteps, and then a face loomed over him, interfering with
his view of the ceiling. An older face, he saw from the wrinkles and the gray salting in the man's
otherwise dark hair. Somewhere around fifty, probably.

Fifty years old, and walking casually around without a care in the universe. Raimey would have
hated him if he'd had any emotional energy left to hate with.

"Mr. Raimey, my name is Jakob Faraday," the man said. "I'm with SkyLight International."

SkyLight International: the private company that effectively ran the bulk of the Solar System's space
travel under contract to the Five Hundred. He could vaguely remember studying the setup briefly in
one of his political economics courses. "Is that supposed to impress me?" he asked.

"I'm not here to be impressive," Faraday said mildly. "I'm here to talk to you about an opportunity."

Raimey snorted. "Forget it."

"Forget what?" Faraday asked.