"Connie Willis - All Seated on the Ground" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

they saw or heard—”

“Or smelled,” Dr. Wakamura put in.

“And until we know what it was, we can’t allow anyone to leave,” Dr.
Morthman said. “It’s the key to our being able to communicate with them.”

“But it’s only two weeks till Christmas,” the mall manager said. “I can’t
just shut off—”

“You obviously don’t realize that the fate of the planet may be at
stake,” Dr. Morthman said.

I hoped not, especially since no one seemed to have caught the
event on film, though they all had their cell phones out and pointed at the
Altairi now, in spite of their glares. I looked across the circle, searching for a
likely parent or grandparent who might have—

The choir. One of the girls’ parents was bound to have brought a
videocamera along. I hurried over to the troop of green-robed girls.
“Excuse me,” I said to them, “I’m with the Altairi—”

Mistake. The girls instantly began bombarding me with questions.
“Why are they sitting down?”

“Why don’t they talk?”

“Why are they always so mad?”

“Are we going to get to sing? We didn’t get to sing yet.”

“They said we had to stay here. How long? We’re supposed to sing
over at Flatirons Mall at six o’clock.”

“Are they going to get inside us and pop out of our stomachs?”

“Did any of your parents bring a videocamera?” I tried to shout over
their questions, and when that failed, “I need to talk to your choir director.”

“Mr. Ledbetter?”

“Are you his girlfriend?”

“No,” I said, trying to spot someone who looked like a choir director
type. “Where is he?”

“Over there,” one of them said, pointing at a tall, skinny man in slacks
and a blazer. “Are you going out with Mr. Ledbetter?”
 “No,” I said, trying to work my way over to him.