[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Across the intervening ocean the slowly rotating lens had accelerated
tremendously on its luminous axis.
So fast was it spinning that it resembled a globe instead of a lens.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Or an eye.
It was a deception of speed, of course. There was no rigid gray globe out
there, hovering above the center of the main island at the nexus of the five
Page 155
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
beams. It was simply the original lens, spinning so fast that it gave the
illusion of solidity. If it had rotated in his direction and blinked, he
wouldn't have been surprised.
"Worked," she whispered. He had to strain to hear the single word.
"Yeah, it worked, all right." With his other hand he took her fingers in his
and squeezed gently. "Kill or cure. You shouldn't have done it, Maggie."
A hand reached up to caress his lips with shaky fingers. "Please, Boston.
Don't be angry." She smiled, and he could sense the effort it required.
"Don't worry. If you ... if you slip away, I'll use one of the life crystals
to bring you back."
Her fingers dropped to coil tightly around his wrist. "Thereare no more,
Boston. I put them all in the machine, and the machine took them." She
struggled to see. "It's kind of pretty, isn't it?With all the lights?"
"Yeah.It's real pretty." His voice choked.
"But no return ticket.Our asteroid-ship hasn't moved." She smiled again. "Hell
of a bang, wasn't it?" Her back arched slightly as every muscle in her body
tensed. Her eyes squeezed shut.
"Maggie?"
She slumped back against him. "It's ... okay. I've been in this position
before, you know."
"You mean, lying down?" He tried to smile back, without much success.
She could only laugh with her eyes."You astronauts.Always kidding." She tried
to punch him, but couldn't raise her arm high enough. Blood began to run from
her nostrils. "I think I'm dying, Boston. I feel all broken inside."
The concussion had blown him clear through the gap in the wall. Much nearer
the source, what had it done to her? He was afraid to feel along her ribs for
fear of what he might find.
"You're not going to die, Maggie. You're not going to leave me here alone."
"What, another order?" She coughed, and what came up finally started his tears
flowing. "Don't try to fool an experienced reporter." For an instant her eyes
seemed to focus. "Listen to me, Boston Low. If you can get home, if you can
find a way, you do it. Promise me."
"I promise." He wiped angrily at his eyes. "Brink still had some life crystals
on him when he went over.
I'll find a way down, come back with one "
"No." Her strength was fast ebbing, but her voice remained strong. "No life
crystals for this girl reporter, Boston. No resurrections."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"But it worked for Brink. It'll work for you."
"No. He wasn't the same ... after. You saw it. The crystals took him over,
remade him as well as revived him. I don't want to be remade. Who knows what
would have happened to him if he'd lived? He might have gone a little madder
each day. Or maybe one day, without warning, the crystals just stop working
and you fall over. No thanks.None of that for me. I'd rather die peacefully
than live like that."
He found himself shaking his head in disagreement.
"You're not going to die."
"Right.I'll just lie here and relax. Keep holding me, Boston. It feels right."
Silently they watched the convergent beams, which showed no sign of
diminishing, and the spinning lens, which gave no indication of slowing. Was
the reaction now self-sustaining? What was taking place deep within the
complex interlinked instrumentation? Could he turn it off now even if he
wanted to?
None of it mattered. Not even finding a way home was important anymore. All
that mattered was the woman lying in his arms, her eyes half-closed as she
continued to breathe shallowly.
"Hey," she blurted abruptly, "take it easy."
"I didn't do anything."
Page 156
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"You're beating up on yourself. You didn't do anything, Boston. No regrets,
comprende?
You wouldn't have liked living with a journalist anyway. We talk all the time,
and I'm told that female journalists are the worst of the lot."
He dredged up a smile. "I'm surprised to hear stereotypes from you, Maggie."
"What the hell. When the muse fails, you fall back on clichés." She coughed
again, harder this time, her body wracked by the spasm.
His touch light, he brushed hair from her forehead. "I think I could've gotten
used to it. We would've managed. I could have done the heroic deeds and you
could have reported on them."
"S'truth. Here I am sitting on the story of a lifetime and I can't get a word
out. Probably doesn't matter.
My regular audience wouldn't believe a word of it."
"Pictures, Maggie.Video."
She smiled up at him."Special effects.Morphing. People believe what they want
to believe." Her fingers tightened against him. "It hurts, Boston."
"I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say. He knew there must be something
else, but he couldn't think of it. It was ever so at such moments.
"The beams.Find out what they're for. Find out for me.It's pan of the story,
you know. You can't leave out critical parts of the story.Bad journalism."
"I'll try. I'm just a little ol' jet jockey, but I'll try. You can help me
find out.Right? Right, Maggie?" Her eyes had closed again. That's when he
thought of the right words, but by then it was too late. It always
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
was.
"I love you, Maggie."
She died there in his arms without saying another word. There was no eloquence
to it, no beauty in it, as the poets postulated. She just went away.
He laid her down gently on the unyielding floor, her lifeless face illuminated
by the final product of a science so advanced, it embodied concepts humankind
could not contemplate even theoretically. While the chamber throbbed with
electronic life, the only one that meant anything to him lay lost at his feet.
He thought about ignoring her request, considered racing back to the main
island to retrieve one of the remaining life crystals from Brink's body. Her
words refused to leave him, stuck in his mind, and he knew that she would
curse him for bringing her back, for subjecting her to the potential tyranny
of crystal addiction.
So he left her there, her beautiful silent face turned toward the alien sky.
Left her the way she always wanted to be left from the time they'd first met:
with the last word. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • alwayshope.keep.pl

    •