"Julian May - Jack the Bodiless" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

was time for both of them to get back to work.
Unifex descended toward the planetary surface. The negligible physical substance of the
Lylmik mind-receptacle deflected only the tiniest of the hard-driven snowflakes and easily
penetrated the three-meter-thick crust of ice and snow above the grotto where Rogi had elected to
camp. The place was typical of the subnivean hollows that gave the Denali planetary park its name:
an irregular cave as big as a good-sized room, melted from the permanent icefield by the heat of a
small geothermal spring. The walls and ceiling were ice, but the rocky floor was cushioned with a
dense lichenoid carpet of tough gray and lavender saprophytes. Close to the shallow burbling pool
grew larger and more fragile exotic lifeforms, sessile animals that resembled scarlet onions with
peculiar flowers that gave off a pungent sulfurous scent if they were bruised. As the mildly
carnivorous blossoms of the onion creatures bent toward Rogi's exposed shoulders, he flicked hot
water at them by way of discouragement.
The walls of the grotto were cupped and dripping near the ground and glittering with crystals
of hoarfrost in the cold upper reaches. There thin tendrils of vapor coiled golden in the light of
Rogi's antiquated electric lantern before disappearing into a natural flue. Touring skis were
propped against one wall, and a backpack lay near the little tent. On the far side of the chamber
was the closed entry door, fashioned of harmonious translucent plass, that led to the enclosed
surface-access tunnel and modern latrine. (Park visitors were strictly forbidden to dig down into
the snow grottoes directly, or to camp in undesignated "virgin" caves except in emergency
situations.)
Here and there on the nacreous walls were circular openings, not quite large enough to admit
a human hand. From several of these, and from a larger hole at ground level where runoff water
from the spring exited, came a glitter of tiny eyes and an occasional peevish hiss. The natural
inhabitants of the grotto, hotblooded eight-centimeter "ice crabs" temporarily displaced by the
human who had come to spend the night, were keeping a close watch on developments. The crabs
considered these alien invaders to be a great nuisance, in spite of the fact that they usually
brought along something worth stealing.
A determined onion flower began to nibble experimentally on Rogi's wet shoulder blade. He
reached for his backpack, unzipped a compartment, and brought out a battered leatherbound flask. A
stiff tot of Armagnac and a guided puff of alcoholic breath caused the lifeform to shrink back
from the poisonous exhalation, blanch to a muddy mauve color, and broadcast its disgust on a


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primitive telepathic mode. The entire plantation of scarlet carnivores desisted from snack attacks
forthwith.
Rogi nodded in satisfaction, took another snort, and sank more deeply into the hot spring. Up
on the planetary surface the hurricane wind roared in the darkness, and there was a distant rumble
as an avalanche let loose somewhere. The grotto trembled slightly. Ice spicules sifted down toward
the bather, glittering until they melted just above his head. Rogi began to sing softly:

"For the wolf wind is wailing at the doorways,
And the snow drifts deep along the road,
And the ice gnomes are marching from their Norways— "

Unifex joined in:

"And the Great White Cold walks abroad!"