"Ellison-SunkenCathedral" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ellison Harlan)

cathedral.

"Where are you? Who am I? What is this place?"

His father sat with him in one of the great rooms of the submerged city. They
had eaten, they had talked endlessly, they had swapped stories of the past
before Dennis had been born, and of the world since George DeVote Lanfear had
died. They had caught up. They were father and son. And now was the moment of
explanations, and of decisions about the future . . . because the journey was
only half the destination.

"Atlantis," his father said gently. "You're in Atlantis."

Dennis shook his head in pleasant, startled incredulity. "The legend?" he said.
"The great sunken continent, Plato, Minoan Crete, all that . . . is that what
you mean?"

"Welcome to Mars," his father said, grinning widely.

"You said Atlantis."

"Welcome to Atlantis."

"I, I don't seem to . . . "

"The Atlanteans went to Mars, son. You were brought here the way millions of
others have been brought here, for thousands of years, because you got too near
one of the drains. Our recycling system. Hadn't you noticed the red water?"

"I -- I --" He stopped. He held his head comically, and waggled it back and
forth. "I'm not up to this, dad. You've given me too much to --"

"All right, more slowly, then. The Atlanteans absolutely commanded time and
space, just as the tall tales tell. They looked ahead, and they saw what was
coming, what the human race was heading toward becoming and they left. They went
to Mars."

"But there's no life on Mars, we can see that from the probes we've sent. It's
desolate, unlivable. Are you telling me that we're under Mars?"

"Exactly. But not the Mars that hangs in the night sky of Earth's telescopes.
They, the ones who will build the ships, they'll never reach Mars. Whatever red
planet in their sky that they land upon . . . whatever it's called . . . it will
not be Mars. Command of time and space, remember? Come on, tell me you remember,
don't fall behind."

Dennis laughed, a mild amusement. "I remember."

"Excellent. It's almost as if either one of us is smart enough to understand
this. What it is, son, is that even if the human race reaches 'Mars' it won't be