JК
Crashlander :: Нивен Ларри
Страница: 183 из 199My heart and lungs were shredded, my back was shattered, my brain was dying, and you had to get me into the cavity. But I wouldn't fit, remember? Sharrol, I have to know.» I looked around quickly. An aisle over, kzinti noses came up, smelling fear. «Did you kill Feather?»
«Kill Feather.» She set the tube down carefully on the display case. Her brow wrinkled. «I was going through my pockets. It was distracting me, keeping me sane. I needed that. The light was wrong, the gravity was wrong, the Earth was so far away —»
«Shh.»
«Survival gear, always know what you have, you taught me that.» She began to tremble. «I heard a sonic boom. I looked up just as you were blown backward. I thought I must be c-crazy. I couldn't have seen that.»
It was my back that felt vulnerable now. I felt all those floors behind and above me, all those eyes. The kzin cop had lost interest. If there was a moment for Feather Filip to take us both, this was it.
But the ARM weapon was in Sharrol's hands –
«But Carlos jumped into the boat and roared off, and Feather screamed at him, and you were all blood and sprawled out like — like dead — and I, I can't remember.»
«Yes, dear.» I took her hand, greatly daring. «But I have to know if she's still chasing us.»
She shook her head violently. «I jumped on her back and cut her throat. She tried to point that tube at me. I held her arm down, she elbowed me in the ribs, I hung on, she fell down. I cut her head off. But Bey, there you were, and Carlos was gone and the kids were too, and what was I going to do?» She came around the counter and put her arms around me and said, «We're the same height. Futz!»
I was starting to relax. Feather was nowhere. We were free of her. «I kept telling myself you must have killed her. A trained ARM psychotic, but she didn't take you seriously. She couldn't have guessed how quick you'd wake up.
«I fed her-into the organics reservoir.»
«Yeah. There was nowhere else all that biomass could have come from. It had to be Feather —»
«And I couldn't lift your body, and you wouldn't fit anyway. I had to cut off your h-h-«She pulled close and tried to push her head under my jaw, but I wasn't tall enough any more. «Head. I cut as low as I could. Tanj, we're the same height. Did it work? Are you all right?»
«I'm fine. I'm just short. The 'doc rebuilt me from my DNA, from the throat down, but it built me in Fafnir gravity. Good thing, too, I guess.»
«Yeah.» She was trying to laugh, gripping my arms as if I might disappear. «There wouldn't have been room for your feet.
«Kill Feather.» She set the tube down carefully on the display case. Her brow wrinkled. «I was going through my pockets. It was distracting me, keeping me sane. I needed that. The light was wrong, the gravity was wrong, the Earth was so far away —»
«Shh.»
«Survival gear, always know what you have, you taught me that.» She began to tremble. «I heard a sonic boom. I looked up just as you were blown backward. I thought I must be c-crazy. I couldn't have seen that.»
It was my back that felt vulnerable now. I felt all those floors behind and above me, all those eyes. The kzin cop had lost interest. If there was a moment for Feather Filip to take us both, this was it.
But the ARM weapon was in Sharrol's hands –
«But Carlos jumped into the boat and roared off, and Feather screamed at him, and you were all blood and sprawled out like — like dead — and I, I can't remember.»
«Yes, dear.» I took her hand, greatly daring. «But I have to know if she's still chasing us.»
She shook her head violently. «I jumped on her back and cut her throat. She tried to point that tube at me. I held her arm down, she elbowed me in the ribs, I hung on, she fell down. I cut her head off. But Bey, there you were, and Carlos was gone and the kids were too, and what was I going to do?» She came around the counter and put her arms around me and said, «We're the same height. Futz!»
I was starting to relax. Feather was nowhere. We were free of her. «I kept telling myself you must have killed her. A trained ARM psychotic, but she didn't take you seriously. She couldn't have guessed how quick you'd wake up.
«I fed her-into the organics reservoir.»
«Yeah. There was nowhere else all that biomass could have come from. It had to be Feather —»
«And I couldn't lift your body, and you wouldn't fit anyway. I had to cut off your h-h-«She pulled close and tried to push her head under my jaw, but I wasn't tall enough any more. «Head. I cut as low as I could. Tanj, we're the same height. Did it work? Are you all right?»
«I'm fine. I'm just short. The 'doc rebuilt me from my DNA, from the throat down, but it built me in Fafnir gravity. Good thing, too, I guess.»
«Yeah.» She was trying to laugh, gripping my arms as if I might disappear. «There wouldn't have been room for your feet.