"Stephen Palmer - The Green Realm Below" - читать интересную книгу автора (Palmer Stephen)

"But we can," said the pyuton. "However there will be no need for anything
as vulgar as physical force. Our reward will be more than sufficient."
"Oh, yes?"
"Like all Krayans, you wish to survive the demise of this last human city.
There are two options. One is to escape Kray. Such a feat is impossible,
as far as we know. The other is to escape death."
Kytanquil did not believe this. "Immortality?"
"You might call it that. One species of immortality can be obtained from
the Venus Heart. Our offer is this. If you become the actuator of our
plan, we shall allow you to share in the immortality of the Venus Heart."
"I don't understand," Kytanquil said. "Why don't you fetch this
immortality yourself?"
"All pyuton expeditions have failed because the Venus Heart can detect the
many varieties of sentient being in Kray. Only the Slow People have
overcome its hostility. That is why a human being must go with the Slow
People to converse with the Venus Heart. That human being, Kytanquil, is
you."
"I'll be killed."
"No you won't. You will be a Slow Person."
"Never!"
Silence fell. Then Awanshyva said, "You are one already."

Kytanquil sat next to her mother in the Spired Inn and sobbed, "They told
me I'm a Slow Person. What have they done to me?"
"You can't be one of them," Oq-Ziq said, "because you're speaking to me
now. The Slow People, so I've heard, can't talk or interact with us normal
people because they're devoted to plants. That's why they're green. There
are many folk tales about them from the north of the city, where they're
occasionally seen." She paused to wipe the tears away from her daughter's
eyes. "Don't worry. They were just trying to coerce you into something.
The fact that they let you get away after all those threats means they
aren't serious. You stay here for a while. I'll look after you."
Kytanquil departed for her room, a small attic at the top of the inn,
where she lit a fire, grabbed a bottle of red brandy and a glass, and lay
back on her bed. After a while she pulled the sheets over her body, and
fell asleep.
Over the next few days all seemed well. Nobody came to the Spired Inn to
disturb her, there were no messages, nor any visitors.
Then one morning she noticed something different about her body. Everyone
suffered from patches of green on the skin; it was a hazard of Krayan
life. Often these patches of algae were benign. If they were malignant,
they could be removed with a low power laser. But this... this was
different. She noticed a distinct sheen to her skin, as if she had covered
her body with a pale green foundation. She took a mirror and examined her
face. It was normal. Thank the Goddess: she was just imagining it.
But she was not.
At dawn next morning she woke up, and her mind seemed different.
It appeared to her that the sun was moving in the sky. As she lay on the
bare floorboards, she watched through her south-facing window as the sun
rose, arced high at noon, then fell to the west into deepening cloud.