"Charles Stross - Duat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

"Oh." She looked down at her hands, so thin and pale that they looked as if they might
break off at the wrist if she tried to do anything strenuous. The range of food sounded
remarkably limited. But ... "I'll have whatever you can cook which is closest to my
metabolic requirements. I need to gain weight and muscle tissue."

"Medical records consulted. Please wait. Your meal will be
ready in eight minutes."

Oshi nodded and stare at the backs of her hands. She was remembering: another time
when she had been blind, and hungry, and weak. She'd been constantly in pain. Then there
was the other time, when she had been strong and fast and could see everything, but still
couldn't hold everything at bay -- her first encounter with her own limits, on Miramor. She
unconsciously phased her vision down into the infrared spectrum, following the luminous
pulse of blood in her arteries and veins. Then she looked up into stranger wavelengths:
ultra-violet, dim beneath the efficient lights. The gatecoder had received her entire
blueprint and implemented all of it, not just the portions with natural origins. Another
mistake; any customs program worth its processor time should have screamed blue
murder about my add-ins. All the stuff the Boss dumped on me.What's wrong? Damn, but I
can see again. Everything except what's happening.

There was a scraping noise; a chair pulled away from the table across from her. Oshi
looked up as Raisa sat down, red-eyed and yawning. "Crazy time to go eating breakfast.


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2: In the Duat

Everybody is asleep ... how do you feel?"

Oshi grunted. "Like shit. How do I look?"

Raisa shrugged, pulled a face. She looked tired, her face sagging slightly. "Like you said.
Don't worry; the 'coder left biostats in your intestines. You should be able to absorb food
very efficiently for the next few days. You'll put on weight like you wouldn't believe,
honest."

She stopped talking, sat back and stared at Oshi. Her off-centre expression made Oshi feel
unaccountably uneasy, so she focussed on the wall instead; they sat in silence for a while.

"You're the first new arrival in years," said Raisa. "Are you part of the project?" Oshi
turned and stared at her. The other woman's fingers tightened on the table edge. Presently,
she looked down. "I suppose it's not too much to hope for a straight answer."

"The project. What project?"

"Evacuation." Raisa looked up. "Have you ever been to the Centre worlds? If you're not
part of the project, where do you come from?"

Oshi was noncomittal: "I travel. No, I've never seen the Centre."