"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Questing Mind" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

"It feels as if a shadow is creeping across my brain," he says. "If we can shed
light on it, then perhaps it will go away."

Scott puts his tray on the floor and buries his face in his hands. Reed glances
at his nephew. They were close once, when Scott played with Reed's children at
all the family gatherings, but there seems to be little closeness between them
now. Not enough to cause Scott's reaction. Finally Scott brings his head up, his
eyes hooded and unreadable, an expression so like Reed's father that Reed
starts.

"All right, Uric," Scott says. "I know a man who can help you. I'll send him
over tomorrow and we'll see what he can do."

The man's name is Cielo Rodriguez, but he speaks no Spanish. "My mother chose
the name," is all he will say, which puts his birthdate squarely within a
five-year period that began in 1966. He is tall and slender, with wavy black
hair and piercing blue eyes -- a bit of cielo, he says--but Reed is uncertain
whether the man means the sky or heaven. Rodriguez wears white to set off his
dark skin. Thick corded muscle runs up his arms and into his shoulders, as if
working with computers has made him very strong. He answers Reed's early
questions as if he has answered them a thousand times.

They meet in the solarium because Reed does not want a stranger to see him in
bed. The warmth is a comfort for his old and aching bones. The nurses have put a
stool in front of his favorite chair so that he can rest his feet. Even in his
white shirt and lightweight pants, Rodriguez looks hot. Sweat beads on his
forehead, an occasional drop falling off his brow onto his pristine clothes.

Reed does not like the small talk and doubts he ever had patience for it. He
leans forward, his shoulder brushing a fern, and tells Rodriguez the brief
history of his deterioration, then requests the map.

Rodriguez wipes at a trickle of sweat that has fallen onto his cheek. "Frankly,"
he says, "I am surprised you have come back to us."

Reed feels a little chill in the pit of his stomach. "Come back?"

"We did this five years ago," Rodriguez says with the cautious tone Reed is
coming to recognize. "Both you and your wife. It was a big deal. The first
successful mapping of the activities of the working, intelligent human brain.
Made the cover of Science News and Scientific American."

And I can't believe you don't remember. That is what his tone said. How could
you ever forget? Reed's breath is coming in small gasps. No wonder Scott looked
so upset. The first time they probably sought him out. The second rime, he
sought them.

"If I'd known you were having troubles, I'd have come to you," Rodriguez says.
"Just like we did for your wife."