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

frustrated at his clumsy phrasing. Fortunately the whales were tolerant of his efforts.

HAVE WE LEARNED ANYTHING ABOUT THE ONES THAT SWIM DEEP AND DO NOT
BREATHE AND FEED ON OBSCURE THINGS?

Not yet, Two Notches. Something has interrupted us in our hungry quest

A CONDITION OF MISFORTUNE EXISTS, LIKE UNTO HUNGER. WE MUST LEARN TO BE
QUICKER.

We will try, Two Notches. After we eat.

WE WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO THE DEEP DWELLERS NOW, AND FEED WITH THEM, BUT
WE MUST BREATHE.




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 Surfacing




4




We will speak to ourselves another time, after feeding.

WE ARE IN A CONDITION OF HUNGER, ANTHONY. WE MUST EAT SOON.

We will remember our hunger and make plans.

The mating and calving season for the humpbacks was over. Most of the whales were already heading
north to their summer feeding grounds, where they would do little but eat for six months. Two Notches
and one of the other males had remained in the vicinity of Las Madres as a favor to Anthony, who used
them to assist in locating the Deep Dwellers, but soon—in a matter of days—the pair would have to
head north. They hadn’t eaten anything for nearly half a year; Anthony didn’t want to starve them.

But when the whales left, Anthony would be alone—again—with the Deep Dwellers. He didn’t want to
think about that.

The system’s second sun winked across the waves, rising now. It was a white dwarf and emitted
dangerous amounts of X-rays. The boat’s falkner generator, triggered by the computer, snapped on a
field that surrounded the boat and guarded it from energetic radiation. Anthony felt the warmth on his
shoulders decrease. He turned his attention back to the Deep Dwellers.

A blaze of delight rose in Anthony. The Dwellers, he realized, had overheard his conversation with Two