"Stephen Golden - Last Ghost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

the pieces necessary to complete the puzzle. Long ago (how long was
indeterminate; time has no meaning in eternity), the ghosts had
discovered a new and higher level of existence. All of them had gone
over to this new evolutionary state; all except one. One last ghost to
show the way up for all the new ghosts who would be coming along.

Only, the mind-transferral breakthrough had changed all that. Suddenly,
there were no new ghosts. And the last ghost was left alone. Duty
confined him to ghostdom, and solitude condemned him to stagnation.

Her pity exploded like a pink nova, even while some analytical portion
of her mind noted that the maternal instinct does not fade through
disuse. She cradled his pathetic non-being deep within her own shadowy
self and whispered words of tender concern.

And suddenly he felt warm with a glow he hadn't felt in eons. His null
senses tingled deliciously with the nearness of this glorious other.
Happily, he nestled himself against her.

A shock ripped through her. And another. And another. "Oh dear.
They're repairing the equipment failure. Soon they'll be

fixing the memory circuit, and I'll go back to being alive again." In the
sad stillness that followed, he uttered one word. "Don't." She was
startled. This was the first time he had initiated a thought, the first time
he had expressed a preference for some- thing. "What did you say?"
"Don't be alive." "Why not?" "I need" "What?" She could feel herself
beginning to fade from this nonplace. "I need" "Yes? Tell me. Tell me
what you need." "I need" "What?" She was fading quickly. "I don't have
much time left ` here. Please, tell me what!" "I need" She disappeared
forever from his non-universe, without a trace.

The last ghost wanders. He is a signpost with nowhere to point. He is a
guide with no one to lead. So he drifts on with an empty mind and a half-
forgotten, unfulfillable purpose. And occasionally:

I NEED

I NEED -

I NEED

As always, the object eludes him.