"Timothy Zahn - Cascade Point and Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

"Yesterday afternoon. I walked most of the night, I think."

I nodded grimly. "I'm afraid your friend is probably dead by now. I'm sorry."

She looked stricken. "How do you know?"

"It sounds like a variant of one of the bacterial diseases the Russians hit us
with in the war. It's kind of rare now, but it's still possible to catch it. And it works
fast."

Her whole body seemed to sag, and she closed her eyes. "I have to be sure.
You might be wrong."

"I'll go and check on him after we get you settled," I assured her. "Come on."

She let me help her to her feet, draping the blanket sari-style around her head
and torso and retrieving the small satchel that seemed to be her only luggage.
"Where are you taking me?"

That was a very good question, come to think of it. She wasn't going to make
it to Hemlock without a lot more rest, and I sure wasn't going to carry her there.
Besides, if she was carrying a Russian bug, I didn't want her going into the town
anyway. Theoretically, she could wipe the place out. That left me exactly one
alternative. "My cabin."

"I see."

I had never realized that two words, spoken in such a neutral tone, could hold
that much information. "It's not what you think," I assured her hastily, feeling an
irrational urge to explain my motives. "If you're contagious, I can't let you go into
town."

"What about you?"

"I've already been exposed to you, so I've got nothing to lose. But I'm
probably not in danger anyway—I've been immunized against a lot of these
diseases."

"Very handy. How'd you manage it?"

"I was in the second wave into Iran," I explained, gently pulling her toward
the slope leading to my cabin. She came passively. "They had us pretty well doped
up against the stuff the Russians had hit the first wave with."

We reached the edge of the road and started up. "Is it uphill all the way?" she
asked tiredly.

"It's only a quarter mile," I told her. "You can make it."

We did, but just barely, and I had to half-carry her the last few yards. I put her