"John Meaney - A Bitter Shade Of Blindsight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meaney John)

“That is all, I think.” I spoke in English, now, as the trance-state left me. This wasn’t the twentieth
century: most of the elders were as fluent in English as in Navajo.

In the shadows, Red Woman sighed. “That was a part-ceremony to end them all, my daughter.”

There were nods of agreement among the elders, and I accepted their verdict. I could not go on. There
was more, far more, for me to tell them and, let’s face it, it needed to be followed by a Ghostway, and
that was a ceremony I surely could not survive.

A flap was thrown back from the doorway, and I squinted. Golden sun was creeping over the mesa’s
edge.
“You’re finished, aren’t you?” said my nephew, Dave. A straight backed youth now, not the child I had
known.

“We’ve finished,” I said.

“Good. The cops are here.” He nodded, and ducked back outside the hogan

I powered down the holoprojector and stuffed it into my backpack. I pushed the pack aside, and
crawled out of the hogan on my hands and knees, and got stiffly to my feet. A small flyer was coming
from the east, out of the dawn.

“Cops?” I asked.

“Tribal Police,” said Dave. “I scanned ‘em.”

“You should be in bed. Haven’t you got school today?”

“Nah. I’m way ahead.”

The flyer dipped down below an outcrop, stayed out of sight for a while, then rose up into view, and
headed straight for us. I could make out the insignia on its blunt grey nose.

It dropped into a landing, a fast but not showy manoeuvre, kicking up a cloud of red dust. I pulled my
bandanna up around my nose and mouth.

The cockpit liquefied and made a slight popping sound as the man crawled out through the membrane
and jumped to the ground.

“Hi, Cly,” said Dave.

“Hi. Howya doin’?”

His voice was deep. He had the narrow waist of the Dine’é, the people, and his wide shoulders strained
the olive uniform of the Navajo Tribal Police. A heavy standard-issue blaster hung at his left hip. He
shifted his belt’s weight in what looked like a gesture of habit.

“Ma’am.” He tipped his hat.