"Allen Steele - The River Horses" - читать интересную книгу автора (Steele Allen)

THE RIVER HORSES
by Allen M. Steele

****

“I read the first issue of Asimov’s when I was a high school senior, and, since even
then I was an aspiring science fiction writer, I looked forward to the day that I’d
find my own stories in this magazine. Thirty years later, I’ve had more than
three-dozen stories published here, including two Hugo winners and four that
have received the annual Readers’ Award. So it’s a quite an honor to be back for
the thirtieth anniversary issue.”—Allen M. Steele

“The River Horses” is a stand-alone Coyote story that takes place after
“Home of the Brave” (December 2004)—the story that comprises the last
chapter of Coyote Rising (the second volume of the Coyote trilogy), and
precedes the events of Coyote Frontier, the third volume. The author’s latest
novel, Spindrift, which is set in the same universe, is just out from Ace Books.

****
The shed’s wooden doors rumbled as they were pushed apart by a couple of
proctors. Early morning sun flooded the barnlike interior, causing Marie to raise a
hand to her eyes. About thirty yards away, her brother walked up the dirt path that
would lead him back to town. For a moment she thought Carlos would turn to wave
goodbye, but he’d turned his back upon her, and there was nothing more to be said
between them.
The proctors finished opening the vehicle shed. Neither of them spoke as they
turned toward her, but the one on the left tucked a thumb in his gun belt, his hand
only a few inches from the butt of his holstered flechette pistol, while his companion
nodded toward the skimmer parked behind her. A wayward grasshoarder fluttered
into the building; Marie’s eyes followed the small bird as it alighted upon the
floodlight rack mounted above the glass hemisphere of the hovercraft’s cockpit.
Then Lars started the twin duct-fan engines; alarmed by the abrupt roar, the
grasshoarder flew away.
“Time to go, Ms. Montero.” Manny loaded the last crate of supplies aboard
the skimmer; grasping the hatch-bar of the starboard cargo bin and pulling it shut,
the savant walked over to her. “We have to leave.”
Marie didn’t respond. Instead, she glanced back toward where she’d last seen
Carlos, only to find that her brother had already disappeared into the tall grass that
lay between Sand Creek and Liberty. She’d expected him to watch her leave, at
least; finding that he wasn’t going to do even this, she felt something cold close
around her heart.
 “Ms. Montero...”
Something touched her left shoulder; looking around, she saw that Manny had
laid one of his clawlike hands upon her. “Get away from me,” she snapped as she
tried to swat it away. The four-fingered claw was made of ceramic carbon, though,
and was hard as steel. Flesh met unresisting metal, and she winced in pain.
“Sorry.” As always, the savant’s face registered no emotion; it was only a
silver skull, a death’s head shrouded by the raised hood of his black cloak. His
remaining eye, the right one, emitted a faint amber hue; the left one was covered by a
patch. His hand disappeared within the folds of his robe. “I didn’t mean to...”