"James Alan Gardner - League of Peoples 05 - Ascending" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner James Alan)

When I woke after my eighty-story plunge, I felt most horrible indeed. Many things inside me hurt worse
than they had ever hurt before... which is not saying much, because this was the first time I had been
seriously injured, but pain is more dreadful when one is unaccustomed to physical suffering. If I took a
deep breath, sharp aches erupted all across my ribs, as if a dozen axes were chopping at me. And
behold, Idid have an ax pressed against my flesh: a beautiful silver one I have always carried as both
weapon and woodcutting tool. However, the ax was not attacking me in any way; it simply lay on my
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chest, as if someone had put it there after I fell.

To be honest, I was glad to have the ax with me—it provided a sense of protection. For a brief moment,
I tried to cuddle the blade more snugly to me as if it were a pet or a toy... but the pain of moving my arms
made my vision blur with tears. Every muscle felt bruised to a pulp; I wondered what bruised glass
looked like, but knew if I lifted my head to see, the agony would be more than I could bear.

Therefore, I just lay where I was. It happened to be a hot pleasant place to lie, with an abundance of
soothing light. I am such a one as absorbs many wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. Radio waves,
X-rays, and gamma particles are like vitamins to me, while infrared and ultraviolet are basic food groups.
(I also eat real food, as produced by the synthesizing machines found in every community of my world.
But when I am not having Adventures, I can survive quite well on nothing hot sunshine, provided I get a
little rain as well.)

Where I was lying, I felt a light spray of water from time to time. I opened my mouth and let the drops
trickle down my throat. The water tasted slightly of minerals that were probably good for me.

The light and water and minerals indicated I was in a Home for Ancestors. There are many such Homes
on my planet Melaquin, though I did not know this before I became a world traveler. These Homes are
designed to contain persons with Tired Brains: persons who have lost interest in life and simply want to lie
someplace warm. To keep them happy, every town has skyscraping towers where Ancestors can lie all
day, getting plenty of light and squirts of enriched water. It is a boring way to spend the time, and I had
promised myself I would never get so sad and lonely that I surrendered to languishing numbness... but
when one is damaged from falling a long way, it is not so very cowardly to rest for a while in the bright
quiet.

So that is what I did.



Clear-Cutting

Now and then, I told myself, "Oar, you must arise, you must find something to do." But therewas nothing
to do. The Home took care of my physical needs, and beyond that, I could think of no goals I wished to
accomplish.

There was a time when my world was full of great people doing great deeds. We had a Thriving Culture,
creating lovely music and art and literature—the teaching machines in my home village had taught me all
about the splendid achievements of our past. I would gladly recite some of our excellent poetry for you,