"Nancy Kress - Fault Lines" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

FAULT LINES
Nancy Kress
"Fault Lines" was purchased by Gardner Dozois, and appeared in the August 1995 issue of Asimov's, with
illustration by Steve Cavallo. It was one of a long sequence of elegant and incisive stories by Kress that have
appeared in Asimov's under four different editors over the last eighteen years, since her first Asimov's sale to Ge
Scithers in 1979- stories that have made her one of the most popular of all the magazine's writers. Born in Buffa
New York, Nancy Kress now lives in Silver Springs, Mary-land, with her husband, SF author Charles Sheffield. H
books include the novels The Prince Of Morning Bells, The Golden Grove, The White Pipes, An Alien Light, and Bra
Rose, the collection Trinity And Other Stories. She won both the Hugo and the Nebula Award in 1992 for her nov
'Beggars in Spain,'' an Asimov's story; the novel version, Beggars in Spain, appeared the following year, and was
fol-lowed by a sequel, Beggars and Choosers. Her most recent books include a new collection, The Aliens of Earth
a new novel, Oaths & Miracles. She has also won a Nebula Award for her story "Out Of All Them Bright Stars."

Here she offers us a compelling and fascinating story in which a retired New York cop must solve a series o
brutal murders while at the same time unraveling an intricate and deadly biological mys-tery ...

"If the truth shall kill them, let them die.'' -Immanuel Kant
The first day of school, we had assault-with-intent in Ms. Kelly's room. I was in my roo
next door, 136, laying down the law to 7C math. The usual first-day bullshit: turn in
home-work every day, take your assigned seat as soon as you walk in, don't bring a weapon
an abusive attitude into my class-room or you'll wish you'd never been born. The kids wou
ignore the first, do the others-for me anyway. Apparently not for Jenny Kelly.
"Mr. Shaunessy! Mr. Shaunessy! Come quick, they throw-ing chairs next door! The new
teacher crying!" A pretty, tiny girl I recognized from last year: Lateesha Jefferson. Her roun
face glowed with excitement and satisfaction. A riot! Already! On the very first day!
I looked over my class slowly, penetratingly, letting my gaze linger on each upturned fa
took my time about it. Most kids dropped their eyes. Next door, something heavy hit the wa
lowered my voice, so everybody had to strain to hear me.
"Nobody move while I'm gone. You all got that?"
Some heads nodded. Some kids stared back, uncertain but cool. A few boys smirked an
brought my unsmiling gaze to their faces until they stopped. Shouts filtered through the wall
"Okay, Lateesha, tell Ms. Kelly I'm coming." She took off like a shot, grinning, Paul Re
in purple leggings and silver shoes.
I limped to the door and turned for a last look. My students all sat quietly, watching me.
saw Pedro Valesquez and Steven Cheung surreptitiously scanning my jacket for the bulge o
service revolver that of course wasn''t there. My reputa-tion had become so inflated it rival
the NYC budget. In the hall Lateesha screamed in a voice that could have deafened rock sta
"Mr. Shaunessy coming! You ho's better stop!"
 In 134, two eighth-grade girls grappled in the middle of the floor. For a wonder, neithe
seemed to be armed, not even with keys. One girl's nose streamed blood. The other's blouse
was torn. Both screamed incoherently, nonstop, like stuck si-rens. Kids raced around the ro
A chair had apparently been hurled at the chalkboard, or at somebody once standing in fron
the chalkboard; chair and board had cracked. Jenny Kelly yelled and waved her arms. Late
was wrong; Ms. Kelly wasn't crying. But neither was she helping things a hell of a lot. A fe
kids on the perimeter of the chaos saw me and fell silent, curious to see what came next.
And then I saw Jeff Connors, leaning against the window wall, arms folded across his
chest, and his expression as he watched the fighting girls told me everything I needed to kno
I took a huge breath, letting it fill my lungs. I bellowed at top volume, and with no facia
expression whatsoever, "Freeze! Now!"
And everybody did.