"John G. Hemry - Kyrie Eleison" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hemry John G)

weary worker. Francesa peered through a high window at the light, judging the time
left in the work day, then reluctantly headed for the quarters of the Watch. If she
didn’t get her lashes soon she might not get them today. She didn’t particularly care
if that displeased the Captain who had already banished them to this cold hell, but
the displeasure of First Officer Garvis could be an ugly thing to bear. If he found out
she’d avoided being punished two lashes would seem like a mercy compared to the
First Officer’s righteous wrath.

Francesa went across a cold passage and down the slope slightly to the
dwellings of the Watch. Two members stood at their station, waiting for whatever
task either Officer or Crew might demand.

Francesa walked toward the Watch station, already feeling her back muscles
tensing in anticipation of the bite of the lash. As she stood before the Watch
members, ready to report, something distracted them. Both turned to look further
down the hill, their mouths dropping open and their eyes staring. Francesa couldn’t
help looking in the same direction.

She wondered if her own mouth had fallen agape. Something very large, larger
even than the Bridge, was dropping gently down from the sky, shining even in the
dim light of the red sun which managed its way through the ever-present cloud
cover. The great object, moving silently, came to rest in the big courtyard which
separated the homes of the Officers and Crew from the houses, farms, and
workshops of the workers.

“The Captain has come,” one of the Watch members gasped. He turned to
Francesa, smiling like a drunkard. “He’s come to take us up!”
 Francesa was still staring when the man turned and started running, down
through the upper quarters and toward the round shining object as it settled onto the
stone of the courtyard. Even from here, Francesa could see the heavy paving stones
buckling around the edges of the huge craft.

But she didn’t smile and she didn’t run. Her mind full of a strange haze,
Francesa veered off to recover the half-roll which she’d hidden that morning, then
walked slowly toward the courtyard. There seemed no reason to run. If the Captain
had truly returned, he certainly hadn’t done so for her.

Most of the other workers seemed to feel the same way. As a column of
Officers and Crew hurled themselves toward the strange object, crying out devotions
to the Captain, the workers followed behind, moving with a sort of quiet resignation.

By the time Francesa reached a point near enough the thing to see and hear
what was happening, it seemed the entire town had gathered around it. Closest were
the Officers and Crew, most with faces beaming in anticipation. The Watch stood
behind them, their faces both hopeful and worried. In the outermost ring stood the
workers, shivering in the cold, their numbers far larger than the others, craning their
necks or climbing on anything that might offer a view. Francesa scrambled up on a
column marking one corner of the courtyard, putting her toward the very back, but
giving her a fairly clear look over the heads of most of the crowd.