"Alastair Reynolds - A Spy In Europa" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Alastair)

city not abundantly illuminated on all its levels. Even so, he could see

no more than half a kilometre upwards; the higher parts of C-A lost in

golden haze and then deepening darkness. Although its symmetry was upset

by protrusions and accretions, the city's basic conic form was evident,

tapering at the narrowest point to an inlet mouth which ingested ocean.

The cone was surrounded by a haze of flotation bubbles, black as caviar.

He remembered the chips of hyperdiamond in his hands. If Cholok was right,

Vargovic's people might find a way to make it water-permeable; opening the

fullerene weave sufficiently so that the spheres' buoyant properties would

be destroyed. The necessary agent could be introduced into the ocean by

ice-penetrating missiles. Some time later - Vargovic was uninterested in

the details - the Demarchy cities would begin to groan under their own

weight. If the weapon worked sufficiently quickly, there might not even be

time to act against it. The cities would fall from the ice, sinking down

through the black kilometres of ocean below them.

He swam on.

Near C-A, the rocky interior of Europa climbed upwards to meet him. He had

travelled three or four kilometres north, and was comparing the visible

topography - lit by service lights installed by Demarchy gill-workers -

with his own mental maps of the area. Eventually he found an outcropping

of silicate rock. Beneath the overhang was a narrow ledge, on which a

dozen or so small boulders had fallen. One was redder than the others.

Vargovic anchored himself to the ledge and hefted the red rock, the warmth
of his fingertips activating its latent biocircuitry. A screen appeared in

the rock, filling with the face of Mishenka.

"I'm on time," Vargovic said, his own voice sounding even less