"Allen, Roger MacBride - Chronicles Of Solace 2 - Ocean Of Years" - читать интересную книгу автора (Allen Roger Macbride)

Office of the Planetary Executive,
Solace City, Solace.
5340 A.D., Terrestrial Common Era



Neshobe Kalzant, Planetary Executive of Solace, leaned back in her office chair.
She read, once again, the letter found in the tomb of a man who had not died.
The man who had brought her the letter, the man to whom the letter had been
written, stood before her desk, his posture rigid, his expression utterly
unreadable. But for all of that, Neshobe knew what he wanted.
It was a long letter. She skimmed through it, letting phrases jump out at her.
Е my tomb was not my tombЕ It is no oneТs tomb. The ashes are as false as the
reports of my recent death.
УRecentФ indeed. The letter had been discovered over a hundred years after it
had been written. But there were strong reasons to believe the writer was still
alive, in some form of suspended animation.
Е I have failed. Failed utterly and ignobly, failed because I ignored facts I
did not find convenient, failed because I believed I could make the world, the
universe, fit the mold I decreed.
But I haveЕ learned far more secrets than those that Ulan Bashaw taught me.
There is much to be found in the most secret places of the Grand Library, and in
other archives. You need only look to the events of the Circum Central incident
to know that is true. The ships you called the Intruders did indeed exceed
light-speed.
УThis exceeding light-speed business,Ф Neshobe said to the man standing in front
of her desk. УThey gave up even trying to do that thousands of years ago. But
you believe him.Ф
УI was at Circum Central,Ф he said quietly. УI saw it.Ф Neshobe hummed
tunelessly for a moment, staring at a patch of nothing just over her visitorТs
left shoulder, and then went on reading. She skimmed down, past the writerТs
boasts, and into his confession. She had to read the words again.
The collapse of Solace is coming. I believe that now. But I also believe that it
will serve as a wake-up call, a warning to all the worldsЕ
She blinked, lost her place, and tried to settle herself. She had known for a
long time, down in her bones, that the planet she governed was too far gone to
recover. But the writer was the man who had quite literally made her world, who
had directed the terraforming project. To have him admit it, from a hundred
years in the pastЧ that cut deep. If he had known, back then, it would failЧwhy
hadnТt he stopped it?
But failure is not mine alone. Humanity itself is failing. The enterprise of our
interstellar civilization is subject to the same physical and mathematical laws
as Solace. All our worlds are doomedЕ
Well, yes, that was the news her visitor had tried to bring to Solace. It was
the letter writer who had preнvented him from delivering the warning. She
skipped back and forth through the letter. The writerТs defense of himself was a
mishmash of tortured logic and special pleading. No need to go through it again.
She skipped to the end. Where the Great Man offered up a deal.