"Brian Plante - Something Meaningful" - читать интересную книгу автора (Plante Brian)

fulfilling activities there to make your life rewarding. For everyone, there is always
something meaningful to do.

But I wanted to stay on Earth. If my mind had been transferred from a human
body into a Canopian one, than surely someday, somehow, there was a way to
transfer back into a human body. Any body would do. I just wanted to be human
again.

I know what I want to do, I thought-spoke.

What is that, George Hemlick?

I want to be a healer.

****

Three years went by, and I learned the power of the Canopian healing arts. My
healer-teacher was called Omornia, and she had began the course of study by
planting her mouth on mine, as if to kiss me, and taking over my body, swapping me
out to wander around in the caverns of her own mind. It was disorienting the first
few times, but like anything else Canopian, you got used to it after a while.

One thing that was especially unnerving was the fact that when you were in
someone else’s brain, even though their consciousness was swapped out, you could
still tap into some of the deep-seated thoughts of that person. It was like plugging
into a video library, only the videos were pure thoughts instead of just sights and
sounds. You knew how the person felt, not just what they saw and heard.

Several times when I was exploring in Omornia’s mind, I found some
disturbing thoughts. I saw my face, human and old, convulsing on the bed in my
familiar bedroom. Irene was there, play-acting her phony grief after having just
poisoned me. And I saw my new Canopian body (actually Davril’s) as he was in the
act of trying to heal me. Omornia had been one of the other Canopians in the room
when I died ... when Davril died. She had witnessed the death of her friend and
fellow healer. I experienced her grief.

I discovered areas of doubt in Omornia’s mind: Is the human sincere, or is
he just trying to learn the healing arts for some deceitful human stratagem? Be
careful of this one, even though Ecreath says he is earnest, he hides his true
thoughts. Beware, he learns too quickly.

And while I was picking through Omornia’s thoughts, what was she picking
up from my brain? There were secrets in there I didn’t want uncovered. Could I lock
them up in a place Omornia couldn’t find? I learned to bury my innermost thoughts,
and each time I entered Omornia’s mind, I looked to see if she had uncovered
anything dangerous in her last foray into my brain.

I was relieved to see she had not. On returning to my own body, I could read
traces of thoughts she had left behind. She was deeply puzzled and bewildered by
what she perceived as the confused state of my mind, and never could figure me out.