Biggle, Lloyd Jr. / Биггл, Ллойд младший - Собрание сочинений (41 произведение) [1957-2013, fb2/epub, ENG]

The Angry Espers 1961, epub, Ace Books The Fury Out of Time 2012, epub, ISBN: 978-1-4344-4119-5, Wildside Press The Light that Never Was 1972, epub Monument / Памятник 1974, fb2 The Chronocide Mission 2002, fb2, ISBN: 1-58715-549-4, Wildside Press The World That Death Made 2013, epub, ISBN: 978-1-4794-0996-9, Wildside Press (with Kenneth Lloyd Biggle)

The Rule of the Door and Other Fanciful Regulations (= Out of the Silent Sky; The Silent Sky) A Galaxy of Strangers 1976, epub, ISBN: 0-385-12246-2, Doubleday

The Tunesmith / Музыкодел 1957, fb2 The Orzu Problem 1958, fb2 Judgement Day 1958, fb2 Monument / Памятник 1961, fb2 Have You a Fortune in Your Attic? 1963, fb2 The Frayed String On The Stretched Forefinger Of Time / Потёртая верёвка на пальце времени 1971, fb2 No Biz Like Show Biz 1974, fb2 The Unnullified World 2004, fb2 Drawn from Death 2007, fb2 Armageddon, Inc. 2012, fb2

Everyone calls it the Center. It has another name, a long one, that gets listed in government appropriations and has its derivation analyzed in encyclopedias, but no one uses it. From Bombay to Lima, from Spitsbergen to the mines of Antarctica, from the solitary outpost on Pluto to that on Mercury, it is—the Center. You can emerge from the rolling mists of the Amazon, or the cutting dry winds of the Sahara, or the lunar vacuum, elbow your way up to a bar, and begin, “When I was at the Center—” and every stranger within hearing will listen attentively. It isn't possible to explain the Center, and it isn't necessary. From the babe in arms to the centenarian looking forward to retirement, everyone has been there, and plans to go again next year, and the year after that. It is the vacation land of the Solar System. It is square miles of undulating American Middle West farm land, transfigured by ingenious planning and relentless labor and incredible expense. It is a monumental summary of man's cultural heritage, and like a phoenix, it has emerged suddenly, inexplicably, at the end of the twenty-fourth century, from the corroded ashes of an appalling cultural decay. The Center is colossal, spectacular and magnificent. It is inspiring, edifying and amazing. It is awesome, it is overpowering, it is—everything. And though few of its visitors know about this, or care, it is also haunted. You are standing in the observation gallery of the towering Bach Monument. Off to the left, on the slope of a hill, you see the tense spectators who crowd the Grecian Theater for Euripides. Sunlight plays on their brightly-colored clothing. They watch eagerly, delighted to see in person what millions are watching on visiscope. Beyond the theater, the tree-lined Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard curves into the distance, past the Dante Monument and the Michelangelo Institute. The twin towers of a facsimile of the Rheims Cathedral rise above the horizon. Directly below, you see the curious landscaping of an eighteenth-century French jardin and, nearby, the Moliere Theater. A hand clutches your sleeve, and you turn suddenly, irritably, and find yourself face to face with an old man. The leathery face is scarred and wrinkled, the thin strands of hair glistening white. The hand on your arm is a gnarled claw. You stare, take in the slumping contortion of one crippled shoulder and the hideous scar of a missing ear, and back away in alarm. The sunken eyes follow you. The hand extends in a sweeping gesture that embraces the far horizon, and you notice that the fingers are maimed or missing. The voice is a harsh cackle. “Like it?” he says, and eyes you expectantly. Startled, you mutter, “Why, yes. Of course.” He takes a step forward, and his eyes are eager, pleading. “I say, do you like it?” In your perplexity you can do no more than nod as you turn away—but your nod brings a strange response. A strident laugh, an innocent, childish smile of pleasure, a triumphant shout. “I did it! I did it all!” . . .

1

It came to Obrien quite suddenly that he was dying. He was lying in a gently swaying gourd hammock, almost within reach of the flying spray where the waves broke in on the point. The caressing warmth of the sun filtered through ragged, scarlet-leaved sao trees. Shouts of the children spearing marnl off the point reached him on fitful gusts of fragrant wind. A full drinking gourd hung at his elbow. The sweet, clear tones of a girl’s voice uplifted in an old, old song, and the tremulous twanging of the nabuls stroked in accompaniment, had embroidered his reverie with bittersweet nostalgia. His first wife had sung that song at a moment in time that now seemed remote almost beyond the reach of memory. Then the realization snapped coldly across his thoughts and roused him from half-dozing, drowsy contentment to icy wakefulness. He was dying. The sudden surge of panic he experienced brought pain in its wake, and while the spasm lasted he lay quietly, hands clutching his abdomen, eyes closed, perspiration oozing from his forehead and soaking the hammock’s brightly patterned robes. It passed, and he jerked erect and shook his fist at the mocking emptiness of the cloudless blue-green sky. “What are you waiting for, damn it! What are you waiting for?” The song stopped abruptly. A nabul struck the ground with a soft thud and a dissonant rattle of strings as Dalla, the singer, leaped to her feet and hurried to his side. He sat on the edge of the hammock wearily looking about him. The multicolored vegetation encircled him with a curtain of riotous beauty, and its glistening, drooping blossoms wafted a soporific invitation to rest, to meditate. ...

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