"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Dancers Like Children" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

"Why did you bring the children out here?" The sand was deep and thick,
and I was having trouble walking.
Latona seemed to follow no trail. "There are a lot of creatures on this
planet that the colonists ignore. Little sand devils that burrow tunnels below
the surface, birds with helicopter-like wings, and insects. Daniel is studying
the birds to see if they're intelligent. Micah, one of my other colleagues,
has determined that the sand devils are not. But the Dancers are intelligent,
in their own way."
The sand became thin and packed, almost a mud-like surface. I glanced
back. The dome was a small bubble in the distance.
"The early miners hated the Dancers and killed them. The killing
stopped, though, when the colonists discovered Salt Juice."
"This is history," I said. My voice sounded breathless. "I want to know
about now."
"I'm getting to now. The Dancers grow the herbs for Salt Juice, and
although the colonists have tried, they can't. So they need the Dancers as
another intelligent species. The colonists take the plants without recompense,
and the Dancers just grow more. I know some of the colonists think the
children's deaths are retaliation."
"And you don't think so."
Latona shook her head. "That's a human reaction. The Dancers are a
different species. They have very alien thought processes."
The wind had eased, but my skin felt battered. I brought a hand up to
my cheek and felt sand on the cream. Sweat ran down my back, and my throat was
dry. "You have water in the pack?" I asked.
Latona stopped, opened the pack, and handed me a small plastic bottle.
I saw others lined in rows of six. I put the bottle to my lips and drank. The
water was flat and warm, but the wetness felt good. I handed the bottle back
to Latona, and she finished the water, putting the empty bottle into her pack.
"We're almost there," she said. "I want you to do what I tell you and
nothing else. The Dancers will come when I call them, and will touch you.
They're only trying to see what you are. Their fingers are more sensitive than
their eyes."
We stepped into a shadowy darkness, and it took me a moment to realize
that we had reached trees. They had dark, spindly trunks, wind-whipped and
twisted. Sand caught in the ridges, making the trees look scarred. The tops of
the trees unfolded like umbrellas, the ropelike leaves entangled and braided
to form a canopy. Latona took her hood down, removed her glasses, and
whistled.
Dark shapes approached from ahead of us. I let my hood down and
pocketed my sunglasses. The creatures weren't walking, although they were
upright. They almost glided along the hard-packed sand, their feet barely
touching. The creatures had long, twig-thin bodies with shiny black skin, two
legs, two arms, and a wide, oblong head with large silver eyes. It was easy to
see why the colonists had called them dancers; they moved with a fluid grace,
as if they made every step in time to a music that I couldn't hear.
My heart pounded against my chest. The Dancers surrounded us and
touched us lightly I clutched my hands into fists, fighting the feeling of
being trapped. Latona held her head back, eyes closed, and I did the same.
Fingers with skin like soft rubber touched my mouth, my nose, my eyelids. I