"Fallow Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Melko Paul)

was no mark where the cut had been. He smiled brightly and I would have been
convinced that he was some ugly guy who'd driven his Volkswagen into the
Olentangy if I hadn't seen his gnarly red flesh.
There were other things that marked him as an alien. His face was lumpy below
the cheeks and his neck seemed to be thicker at the top than the bottom. He
looked human enough, and you'd just think he was ugly if you passed him on the
street.
Thank you, little boy,
Save it for the Galactic Council, I said. I know what you are.
What do you mean, young man? he said.
I'm a girl, you dork. Any human male would know that.
His shoulders fell. Oh.
Yeah. So, you might as well 'fess up. You here for First Contact?
No. I'm on Earth illegally.
I refrained from the pun. If I'd said it at the dinner table, Mama would have
snorted milk out her nose and then Ernie would have choked on his pork chop and
then Nick would have started laughing because everyone else was.
So, there's no take-me-to-your-leader thing that you have to do?
No, I need to talk with your scientists. I need to redirect … He was staring
over my shoulder. For a second, I was worried that Harry had snuck back to spy
on me, but it was just Nick. He was piling his rocks next to the limp elm that
had rooted itself on the peninsula.
Hey. Redirect what?
Is … is … he broken?
I stared at him, unsure what he meant, until I realized. Yeah, Nick is slow. So
what?
I knew about … I just never …
Don't you have retarded aliens? I was getting annoyed with this guy. I figured
that a representative from an advanced civilization would know how to behave
around someone like Nick. I expect Harry and his friends to make fun of the
little yellow school bus, but from aliens I guess I expected a little more.
No, of course not. I'm sorry. I …
Nick wasn't paying too much attention to the alien. But the alien was all eyes
for Nick. I snapped my fingers.
So what are you doing here? You need to talk with Earth's scientists. You need
to warn us about a supernova? Help us stop war? What?
No, nothing like that. I've got to change the direction of Earth's research.
Are you bringing high-tech gadgets that will give us cold fusion,
nanotechnology, quantum computers? My real dad had given me one gift in the past
ten years, but it was the best gift ever: a subscription to Discover. I'd been
paying for the subscription myself for the past three years, but I still thought
of it as Dad's gift. If it weren't for him, the deadbeat bastard, I'd never have
gotten into the magnet school.
That's exactly the sort of technology I need to steer you away from!
What sort of alien are you, anyway?
I'm a … teacher.
I glanced over at the Beetle. You get shot down?
Yes.
Air Force? NATO?
The … farmers tried to stop me.