"Walter Jon Williams - Surfacing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

ANTHONY, I AND A PLACE OF BAD SMELLS HAVE FOUND ONE ANOTHER, BUT THIS HAS
NOT DETERRED OUR HUNGER.

The computer played back the message as it displayed the translation, and Anthony could understand
more context from the sound of the original speech: that Two Notches was floating in a cold layer
beneath the bad smell, and that the bad smell was methane or something like it—humans couldn’t smell
methane, but whales could. The over-literal translation was an aid only, to remind Anthony of idioms he
might have forgotten.

Anthony’s name in humpback was actually He Who Has Brought Us to the Sea of Rich Strangeness, but
the computer translated it simply. Anthony tapped his reply.

What is it that stinks, Two Notches?

SOME KIND OF HORRID JELLYFISH. WERE THEY-AND-I FEEDING, THEY-AND-I WOULD
SPIT ONE ANOTHER OUT. 1/ THEY WILL GIVE THEM/ME A NAME: THEY/ME ARE THE
JELLYFISH THAT SMELL LIKE INDIGESTION.

That is a good name, Two Notches.

I AND A SMALL BOAT DISCOVERED EACH OTHER EARLIER TODAY. WE ITCHED, SO WE
SCRATCHED OUR BACK ON THE BOAT. THE HUMANS AND I WERE STARTLED. WE HAD
A GOOD LAUGH TOGETHER IN SPITE OF OUR HUNGER.

Meaning that Two Notches had risen under the boat, scratched his back on it, and terrified the
passengers witless. Anthony remembered the first time this had happened to him back on Earth, a vast
female humpback rising up without warning, one long scalloped fin breaking the water to port, the rest
of the whale to starboard, thrashing in cetacean delight as it rubbed itself against a boat half its length.

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 Surfacing

Anthony had clung to the gunwale, horrified by what the whale could do to his boat, but still exhilarated,
delighted at the sight of the creature and its glorious joy.

Still, Two Notches ought not to play too many pranks on the tourists.

We should he careful, Two Notches. Not all humans possess our sense of humor, especially if they are
hungry.

WE WERE BORED, ANTHONY. MATING IS OVER, FEEDING HAS NOT BEGUN. ALSO, IT
WAS NICK’S BOAT THAT GOT SCRATCHED. IN OUR OPINION NICK AND I ENJOYED
OURSELVES, EVEN THOUGH WE WERE HUNGRY, :.

Hunger and food seemed to be the humpback subtheme of the day. Humpback songs, like the human,
were made up of text and chorus, the chorus repeating itself, with variations, through the message.

/ and Nick will ash each other and find out, as we feed.

Anthony tried to participate in the chorus/response about food, but he found himself continually