"Linda Nagata - Hooks, Nets & Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nagata Linda)

single train of thought. He felt as if the trailing tentacles of a garbage trawler had become tangled in his
brain, each tentacle pulling the neural tissue in a different direction.

One tentacle, one direction. Garbage in, garbage out. He twisted around in Commarin's arms. "A
garbage trawler brought you in."

Commarin nodded slowly.

"Find one that's charged and ready."

"No. I told you I won't leave without you."

Ryan's voice boomed again from overhead. "Commarin, Commarin, why so stubborn? When are you
going to realize that hiding under the deck is no solution?"

"Not you," Zayder whispered. His gaze wandered to the deck overhead. "I was thinking this time we
could go trawling for sharks."

Commarin frowned, but he helped Zayder swim to the nearest trawler's berth. Zayder glanced at the
maintenance panel. It indicated the unit was charged and ready to go, awaiting only its turn in the
schedule. Tiburon slipped past inside the pen. Zayder was peripherally aware of the wake of the great
fish as he lifted his hand to touch the panel. "You want to send it early," he told Commarin, his voice
barely audible, even in his own ears. "You press this. But first we take off the tentacles, all but one."

It was an easy operation. The snap-in modules popped out, until only one was left. "Unwind it a bit,"
Zayder said, clinging to the trawler's housing. "It won't stick to your skin; only to your clothes." Ducking
underwater, he struggled out of his company t-shirt, then resurfaced. He took the end of the tentacle in
his bare hands. It felt smooth and soft and only mildly sticky. "When I hit the deck," he said, "you launch
the trawler."
"Zayder--"

Zayder grabbed the maintenance ladder and started climbing, his steps deliberately loud against the
peaceful mutter of the ocean. His head crested the deck, and he saw Ryan.

Ryan seemed surprised to see him. He quickly brought up the muzzle of his weapon. "I thought you'd be
shark food by now," he growled.

"Commarin's hurt," Zayder croaked. "Help haul him up. Can't do it myself. Injured...."

Ryan crept forward cautiously. A meter and a half away, he leaned over the edge of the deck, as if to
check whether Commarin really was clinging to the ladder. Zayder judged it his best moment.

He launched himself onto the deck, hitting it belly first and sliding towards the startled Ryan with the
tentacle held in his outstretched hands. It wouldn't cling to living flesh. But it would happily wrap around
Ryan's clothed leg.

Zayder threw it against him as he slid past. Ryan dropped the gun. He bent down, his bare fingers tearing
at the tentacle. "Now, Commarin!" Zayder screamed.

But Commarin had already launched the garbage trawler. Zayder saw the finned torpedo from the corner