"mayflies05" - читать интересную книгу автора (O'Donnell Jr Kevin)

"He has blasphemed!" he croaked.
"He's my best student!"
The door whirred open on a strangled cry. Ioanni, instinctively gathering her children in her arms, gasped as two servos wheeled in. Between them, pinioned hand and foot by blue metal tentacles, struggled Prescott Dunn.
"Let him go, Sangria."
"Lord, he has blasphemed!" The old man was on his feet, wobbling from side to side. One withered arm slipped out of its wide sleeve-to stab skeletally at Dunn.
"I'll do it myself," said CC.
The servos released Dunn, who fell, and almost lost his balance. He was eighteen. Faded gray coveralls second-skinned his tall, broad body. He was so powerfully muscled that there seemed no room in him for intelligence, but it was there. It lanced out of his angry blue eyes, which raked the shabby chapel like contemptuous lasers, fixed on Figuera, and would have burned through him if the old man hadn't hidden behind Ioanni.
"That's why you were so upset?" asked the speakers.
"Lord?"
A picture formed on the display screen--Prescott Dunn, sitting at a computer terminal, tapped out the final adjustments to a program he'd just written. Satisfied, he stretched, linked his fingers behind his head, and tensed his muscles. The microphones caught the crackling of tendons. Then he told the terminal, "Run it," and swiveled his chair to stare at two servos. Glancing from them to the timepiece on the wall, he waited for--a satisfied smile broke across his face. The servos bowed to each other, embraced each other, and began to make grossly funny mechanical love. The Dunn in the display was laughing, slapping his knee. Ioanni chuckled while her children looked bored.
"See how he perverts your angels. Lord," protested Figuera. "See how he debases them."
The speaker coughed back a snicker. "Sangria, this hardly constitutes blasphemy."
"It is."
The voice grew stern. "It is not."
"But, Lord--"
"Blasphemy is an attack upon my sanctum sanctorum, and is nothing else!"
"He must be punished."
"No."
Though the old man quivered within his robes, cunning brightened his eyes. Supporting himself on pew ends, he limped up the aisle to Dunn, who stood with his arms folded across his chest. A meter from the angry youth, Figuera swung his staff. The diamond knob sped toward Dunn's temple--but Dunn twisted agilely away. Hid seized it before Figuera could strike again.
"Idiot!" snapped Dunn. He shook the staff; rainbows flashed and broke.
"Sangria," said CC, "I warned you."
"You desert me--"
"I tried to keep you--"
"--when I uphold your laws--"
"--from doing something foolish."
"--and no real God would do that!"
"I am not a God!"
"Blasphemy!" shrieked Figuera.
The servos lurched forward. Tentacles encircled his wrists and ankles; more caught him by the waist, snagged a fold of his robe, and stuffed it into his cursing mouth. Their motors hummed as they left, holding him between them like a pig on a stick. The hem of his robe swept dust into balls of fluff.
"Mr. Dunn," said the voice. "I apologize for my monitor. What you did was not wrong, but amusing. He had no right to harass you. I regret the annoyance he has caused."
Dunn scowled, and snapped the stick over his knee. He threw the pieces at the dispose-chute. "You caused the annoyance, Cold Cubes---by choosing somebody like him to do your dirty work. He's twisted and nasty and much too old."
"Ms. Ioanni," said the speakers, "please try to calm Mr. Dunn down."
"Yes, sir." She stepped forward, hand raised, mind awhirl. CC wasn't God? But all this time . . . "Prescott," she said softly, guiding him toward the nearest pew, "come over here. Sit down. Relax. You look awfully tired."
"Don't mother me." He pushed her hand away.
"I'm not." She pointed to her children. "Them I mother; you . . . CC asked me to help you get calm, that's all. And I . . . I . . . " She was horrified at the tears welling up in her eyes--before they could overflow, she choked back a sob and said, "Al, Betty--outside with you, go home, I'll meet you there."
"Can I go back to the beach instead?" He rattled his pail hopefully.
"After you walk y-y-your sister home. Quickly."
They disappeared in a flurry of raised voices. The instant the door closed she started crying, and felt bewilderment in Dunn's gaze. She tried to raise her head and tell him not to worry, but it was impossible. She was crying too hard. She waved her hand and bawled louder.
"What's wrong?" Sliding next to her, he put a tentative arm over her shoulder.
"I--CC--I always th-th-thought--" She gasped and fumbled in her tunic pocket for a tissue.
"Here." Dunn had one in his hand, and was dabbing at her eyes.
She took it and blew her nose. "Thank you." She wiped her cheeks with her fingers. "I'm sorry. Shock. I don't-know. I always thought CC was . . . God, y'on?"
"Did it tell you that?"
"No, oh, no . . . it was just . . . I mean, everything, y'on? Food, clothes, lights, rooms--he sells them all--and I always . . . " She couldn't say it aloud; she had to say it in bleepspeak: "I 'wanted' to follow 'his' rules because I 'love' my father and he said 'his' mother told him when he was a 'child' that she had a 'dream about' how CC would save us if we kept 'his' laws, how he was looking for a planetary 'body' that we could land 'on', that'd be yours and 'mine', but he wouldn't if we weren't . . . " Disconsolate, she pulled her ear hard.
He touched her face, softly, and hugged her until she stopped sobbing. His concern was another pair of arms, strong and warm. She soaked up his empathy like a plant does sunlight.
"Poor lady," he said. "I feel for you. But it's only a machine--a computer--very advanced, of course, but mechanical, comprehensible, subject to our wishes."
"I wouldn't bet on that, Mr. Dunn," crackled the speakers.
"Oh?" Eyebrows hoisted, he glared at the wall-unit. "It's just a matter of time before m'on to everything about you, Cap'n Cool. Look what I did to your servos this afternoon."
"Though your skepticism is refreshing, Mr. Dunn, be less cocky. You have a long life ahead of you, and it could be a most productive one . . . but I guarantee you two things: first, you will never know all there is to know about me, because I won't tell you everything. And second, if you ever attempt to harm me, you will regret it. Remember those two points, Mr. Dunn, and we will coexist peacefully and happily."
"And if I don't?" He thrust out his jaw pugnaciously.