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

three times, then touch hands. One child would moan or roll away. The others
would laugh.
Tanner froze the image. "These are the children," he said. He moved
near the images, stopping by a slim, blonde girl whose face was bright with
laughter. "Linette Bisson," he said. Then he moved to a solid boy with rugged
features who was leaning forward, his hand in a small fist. "David Tomlinson."
Tanner moved to the next child, his body visible through the holos in
front of him. I shivered. Seeing the living Tanner move through the projected
bodies of dead children raised hackles on the back of my neck. Superstition.
Racial memory. My ancestors believed in ghosts.
He looked at a dark-haired girl who frowned at the little boy who sat
alone. "Katie Dengler. Beside her, Andrew Liser and Henry Illn." The boys were
rolling on the ground, holding their stomachs. Their mirth would have been
catching if I hadn't known the circumstances of their deaths.
Tanner went back to the holojecter.
"Who are the other children?' I asked. At least eight were not
accounted for.
"You'll meet them," Netta said. "They still run together."
I nodded and watched. Tanner switched images, and the projection moved
again. The children's clothing changed. They wore scarves and reflective
cream. A middle-aged woman with sun-black skin stood beside them. "Do as I
say," she said. "Nothing more." They turned their backs on me and walked past
trees and houses until the dome appeared. The woman flicked a switch, and the
dome rose. The children waved, and the dome closed behind them. The younger
boy ran into the picture, but an adult suddenly appeared and stopped him.
Tanner froze the image. I stared at the boy, seeing the dejection in
his shoulders. I had stood like that so many times since Minar, watching my
colleagues move to other projects, while I had to stay behind.
"We think this is the first time the Dancers met with the children,"
Tanner said.
"Who is that boy?" I asked.
"Katie Dengler's brother. Michael."
"And the woman?"
"Latona Etanl. She's a member of the Extra-Species Alliance." Netta
answered that question. Her voice dripped with bitterness. "She believed that
having the children learn about the Dancers would ease relations between us."
I glanced at her. "There have been problems?"
"No. The Alliance believes that we are abusing the Dancers because we
do not understand their culture." Netta leaned back in her chair, but her body
remained tense. "I thought we had a strong cooperative relationship until she
tried to change things."
I frowned. The Alliance was a small, independent group with bases on
all settled planets. Theoretically, the Alliance was supposed to promote
understanding between the colonists and the natives. In some areas, Alliance
members spent so much time with the natives that they absorbed and practiced
native beliefs. On those lands the Alliance became a champion for the
downtrodden native. In other lands the group assisted the colonists in
systematically destroying native culture. And sometimes the group actually
fulfilled its mission. The Alliance representatives I had met were as varied
as the planets they worked on.