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time when you were ready to meet us. Most of the things
you got from us merely rubbed off from our culture and
were absorbed into your daily life, but a few things we
deliberately planted here to prepare you for our arrival."
Matt swallowed. "Let me guess: Spielberg?"
"Of course -- and Bowie before him. Sometimes, it
wasn't that controlled; I've no idea why the pointy ears
got so popular. But really, it's a rather long list."
"You don't say," Matt said in a weak voice. Pietr
hugged him tighter.
"I'm sorry to spring it all on you like this, but it's the
only way to explain what's happening with us."
Matt tried to tear his thoughts away from the fact that
what he had believed to be the miracle of a unique
human civilization was nothing but a bad copy of the
Himiko culture.
"Not a bad copy. You did a nice job on your own,
too. We could never have Mahler. Or ice cream."
"I. You... What?"
"Well, it doesn't make much sense, does it? Cream
doesn't taste all that great in itself, so why try to freeze
it?"
Matt sputtered. "I wasn't talking about..." He gestured
wildly in the air. "What about Rilke, then?" Okay, there
were probably more urgent topics to clear up, but this
one was important to him. And now he was defending
himself against himself. Way to go.
Himiko: Bonding - 36
For the first time, Pietr looked a bit worried. "Rilke
was extremely sensitive. I think that's very clear from
his New Poems. Are you okay?"
Matt nodded. Then he frowned.
"Why do you even ask? Can't you tell how I'm
feeling?"
"Yes, I can tell that you're a mess, and I don't
understand why. You accepted the fact that the Himika
communicate with thoughts, but this seems to upset you.
And it concerns me to see you upset."
"I'm not a mess." He was.
"You are. And you can't hide it from me, so why try
to play hero instead of letting me comfort you?"
Matt frowned some more. "And now you're just
trying to confuse the case by bringing logic into it," he
grumbled. But he had to admit that Pietr had a point, so
he reluctantly gave up his attempt at an unconcerned
façade and leaned into Pietr. It felt really good to be
lying in the Himiko's arms. He sighed.
"It's a stupid thing, really, but back when my father
was still alive, he used to read Rilke for me. He taught
German. It was long before I was anywhere near able to
understand it, but I still connected the sound and the
rhythm of those words with my father. I even wanted to
study literature, or at least German, because of it. It was
only my father's suggestion to envision a day of work in
each of my chosen fields of study that finally made me
choose architecture. I haven't regretted it, and I'm
eternally grateful to my father for that. Somehow, Rilke
means all that to me."
Matt made a dismissive gesture, a little embarrassed
by his monologue. "Learning that all I've held sacred --
you know, literature and art -- that it's all just a bad copy
of the real thing, that's like finding out that our entire
civilization is a fake. It's really disturbing."
Himiko: Bonding - 37
"Once again: It's not a bad copy. I didn't say that."
Pietr held him more tightly and gently stroked his arms.
"Will it be of any help knowing that you've only
incorporated so much of our culture these last couple of
hundred years because you're about to catch up? All
Plato got was a very vague outline; it hasn't been until
now that you've been able to accept the idea of us."
Oddly enough, it was a comfort. Of course, Pietr's
warm body and gentle caresses weren't bad, either. Matt
decided to leave the panicking to some other day. He
had a sense that he would need it plenty of times in the
future.
Pietr snorted. "You're very odd, you know?"
"I'm not!" He lifted his head to glare at Pietr.
"Yes, you are. You fight like crazy when you feel
you have a cause, but if not, you just let it go."
"Well, anything else would be stupid."
"It would. And you're not stupid. Far from it."
"Apart from that, I had something to fight for last
time, you know." He let his head sink a little toward
Pietr.
"You did. And you got me, heaven help us."
Matt was about to give an enraged answer again but
got kind of distracted when Pietr kissed him.
This was nothing like the chaste kisses they had
shared earlier on. Matt felt something surge through him
as Pietr's lips met his again and again, soft and then hard
and more exciting than anything he had ever
experienced before. He felt melted and tense all at once, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]