"Zach Hughes - The Book of Rack the Healer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

this depleted planet would produce dynamic life springing exuberantly
upward.

The thoughts of Red Earth the Far Seer ran on as he lay slumped into
his rack, huge chest moving only occasionally, red gills lying idle, since the
air of the establishment was pure. All around him, in enclosures lining the
walls, were the Breathers, eating, growing, breeding, using their small,
half plant, half insect bodies to return to the air the life-giving particles
that, in turn, found their way into Red Earth's system.

In the night no star shone. The satellite, unseen by light-sensing organs,
moved only in Red Earth's senses. He did not stir until it was at the zenith.
Then he rose and advanced to Deepsoft's chamber on thin, short legs that
extended from small hips below a flat belly and the huge, bulbous mass of
his chest. His hide was thick, and deep gray in color. His shoulders
tapered upward into the cone-shaped knob of his head in which there
were two orifices: the small, round feeding mouth and the hairy maw of
his breather. On the side of his head just above his shoulders, were his gill
slits, which now exhaled his body poisons, cleansing his lungs for an
extended period of nonbreathing.

Deepsoft fed on the broth of life, the universal energy concentrate
distilled at the Eastern Group Establishment from the green slime source
of the sea. After she was fed, she seized one of Red Earth's fingers. She
smiled, holding it tightly. He lowered the protective railing and joined her.
She made sounds of pleasure and Red Earth blanked his thoughts, yielding
to pleasure as she cooed in response to his givings of sensation.



II

As chance would have it, Rack the Healer was given his free time as the
storms moved down from the cool north at the end of sun circle. Growing
Tree the Far Seer assigned a Power Giver who was also finished with her
duty to transport Rack to his home area. In preparation Rack breathed
deeply, voided his gill sacks of rejected vapors, and closed off. He used
stored air until the perpetual clouds were a blanket of color below them
and the Power Giver thoughtfully sent a picture letting Rack know that the
air here was nontoxic.

Rack's huge chest heaved as his lungs breathed the thin but delicious
mixture. His pleasure communicated to the Power Giver and she laughed.

Above them the sun was a deadly furnace, taking its toll. Rack's large
scales made an audible clattering noise as they rose to form small
deflection areas. He knew that the hide of the Power Giver was being
penetrated and he was momentarily saddened. Yet it was the nature of
things. He would be the last to suggest to the freedom-loving Power Giver
that she confine her flight to lower levels, where the thick atmosphere