"Resnick, Mike - Bibi" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

_Bibi._
* * *
While everyone else was celebrating the miraculously-recovered young woman's emergence from the hut in which she was expected to die, Jeremy wandered over to the truck and picked up his "bait": a bowl of _posho_ and some dried fruits.
There was no sense telling Elizabeth what he had seen or what he planned to do about it. She would give him so many rational explanations that he would have ended up believing her and not trying to entice the ancient woman back. So while Elizabeth lay deeply asleep within the hut, Jeremy laid out his traps on the back of the truck, then stretched out right beside them. He forced himself to close his eyes: moonlight would reflect off them, and it stood to reason that the superior senses of _australopithecus_..._pitheca?_... would spot it.
He waited.
And then it was morning, and the fruit was gone.
* * *
"It was _her_," said Jeremy to Elizabeth. "I know it was!"
"Then what are you going to do -- sleep out in the truck again?"
He shook his head. "That's _my_ turf, and it makes her too cautious."
"Surely you're not going out into the bush at night!"
"You want your spark plugs back, don't you?" he retorted.
"Not at the cost of your life."
"I'll be fine."
"Sure you will," she said caustically. "If you don't get totally lost, you'll probably run into that leopard you shot."
"He's out of the area," replied Jeremy.
"How do you know?"
"The baboons are quiet at night."
She stared at him. "This is really stupid, Jeremy."
"Probably," he agreed. "But unless you have a better idea..."
* * *
_She walked through the bush, eyes and ears alert to any danger. The animals were different from those she was used to -- smaller, but just as dangerous. She came to a small stream, checked carefully for predators, then squatted down, cupped a hand, and brought some of the life-giving liquid to her lips. A marabou stork landed a few feet away and she jumped._
_Her first urge, now that she had satisfied her thirst, was to return to the cave she had found, where she would be safe for the night. But then the wind brought the scent of fruit to her nostrils, and she decided to investigate..._
* * *
The moon had long set, and he was on the verge of drowsing off, his back against the thick bole of an acacia tree, when he finally saw that small, familiar figure steal out from a nearby bush across the clearing. It paused to stare at him, and Jeremy forced himself to remain motionless. Tiny shadows swung from her neck. As she came closer, Jeremy saw what it was: she -- or one of the children she tended -- had strung the spark plugs on a grass string, and she was wearing them as a necklace.
_Come on, Sweetheart,_ he thought as his heart pounded. He had spread his treasures out on the ground: the red cloth in which the infant had been wrapped, some dried apricots, a bowl of _posho_, a long loop of scarlet ribbon. _Come on!_ But the tiny creature paused, suddenly frightened. _Please_, he thought again, this time imploringly. _Please, Bibi!_
The figure turned toward him, lifting her head and straightening up, which set the spark-plug necklace to swaying once again. Then, attracted by the prizes he'd set out, she drew closer.
She recognized the cloth and snatched it to her breast, cradling it like an infant. She caught up a dried apricot and chewed it quickly, her eyes shining with pleasure. Then she reached for the strand of crimson ribbon.
Jeremy laid his hand down on the other end of the ribbon.
Bibi jumped back.
Jeremy leaned forward carefully. She had seen him with the women and children; she had to know that he wasn't a threat. Still, she watched him carefully, never taking her eyes from his, never loosing her grip upon the ribbon.
_That's right. Think of the necklace you can make. Think of how it'll delight the kids._
"Come on," he whispered to her as he got slowly, carefully to his feet. Would she understand any speech at all? "Of course you want it. It's pretty. I'll trade you. This for..." he waved at the spark plug necklace in a gesture of _let's barter_ that might have been old when she was young.
The ancient woman backed away. _Smart, aren't you? Why bargain if you can get it for free?_ He tugged lightly on the length of ribbon, trying to draw it toward him, and her with it. She let herself be drawn and looked up into his face.
He was struck by her eyes. Even under the low, furrowed brow, they glowed with intelligence. This was not a "primate"; this was a _person_. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
_You've seen me. I'm your friend. I shot the leopard._
"I really need those spark plugs," he said softly. He leaned over, cautiously, maintaining the tension on the red ribbon. He was six feet tall to her four. A little further, a little longer -- and his fingers closed on her arm.
He was strong, especially compared to her -- but she was wily. Even as she squalled with anger, she let him draw her closer. And then, with a smile of glee at her own cunning, she buried her sturdy, three-million-year-old teeth deep in his arm.
Jeremy let out a yelp of surprise and pain. Human bites were as nasty as those of the big cats, he'd heard, and even dirtier; but this bite burned like molten iron.
_Goddammit! I thought you'd come to save your children, not kill them! Are we_ that _disappointing to you?_ And then came a frightening thought:
_God help me, I've contaminated her!_
He realized that he was bleeding like the proverbial stuck pig, his arm was swelling, and the moonlight shone off some nasty red streaks had started to travel from the wound up toward his lymph nodes. He could hear his teeth chattering as he burned and shivered and tried to use his belt as a tourniquet.
_Why, Bibi? You_ can't _have come across the endless eons just to bite a man who's already dying. It doesn't make any sense!_
Then he blacked out.
* * *
The sky glittered as if it were filled with diamonds. More diamonds, or maybe sapphires, reflected off the brilliant surface of the lake. Or maybe it was an ocean. A white wake bisected it, and ripples shimmered, then evened out as the water calmed. Jeremy thrashed. He wanted to tell everyone that it was a good sign that the water was troubled, it meant that spirits were abroad, or afloat, or something. Anyhow, it meant that miracles could indeed happen, even to him. His arm burned; he ached all over; and his mouth tasted as if bats had roosted in it.
He thrashed and felt weights land on him, forcing him back down. He opened his eyes and saw Bibi, the infinitely loving mother of the race, up in that glittering sky, surrounded by a rainbow haze that turned into crystals even as he watched, then dropped down in showers of gems. _Lucy in the sky, with diamonds. And I thought it was just a song!_
He'd been young once, without this treason in his blood and body; and he'd waterskiied in the Keys with guys as carefree as he himself. He'd linked arms and chanted, "The whole world's watching!" So it was, and Bibi was watching too, her ugly, beautiful, infinitely loving face grave with concern.
"If you get sick, come home," his parents had written, "and we'll take care of you."
_That's just what I've done,_ he wanted to say; _I've come home, and the mother of us all is taking care of me._