"Allen, Roger MacBride - Chronicles of Solace 3 - Shores of Tomorrow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Allen Roger Macbride)

But to attack a timeshaft wormholeЧto brush back the defenders, to defeat the security systems, to come from the direction no one expected, to wreck the wormholeЧand to come and go traveling faster than light, demonstrating how far beyond their crude devices you have goneЧthen they wouldhave to know they had been assaulted, been defeated.

All that damage had to be done simply because Oskar DeSilvo had to thumb his nose at the Chronologic Patrol. . . .



Well, perhaps. Koffield stopped reading there, set the datapad down, and rubbed his eyes. No explanation was ever going to be entirely satisfactory so far as he was concerned. But Dr. Ashdin had made a good start.

He would have to read through the whole report by morning, but Anton Koffield already knew he was going to approve its distribution. It was honest. It was accurate. And yes, it was angry. But cold, hard, dispassionate anger was an entirely justified reaction to all DeSilvo had done.

In any event, the danger in speaking plainly was as clear to Dr. Ashdin as it was to Koffield. As for the report endangering the rest of them . . . how much more danger could they be in? DeSilvo could kill them all at any time, for any reason, or no reason.

No. If as careful a scholar as Wandella Ashdin was prepared to speak truth to power, and do so in the stronghold of the man she was judging, then he had no right to stop her from so doing.

The question was, would DeSilvo feel he had the right, and the need, to stop herЧor even all of his guestsЧfrom doing anything, ever again?

TheyТd all find out the next day.

Chapter Four

MIRRORS AND SHADOWS

Yuri Sparten stood in the darkness and watched the death of planet Earth. Again. Every run of the simulation model ended the same way.

УStarting to believe him?Ф asked Norla Chandray, looking up at the image of a ruined world hanging in the darkness. She made sure the data was stored, then reset for the next run.

УMaybe,Ф Yuri said. УBut weТre still depending a lot onhis system, his ArtInts, his programming, his initial data. I wonТt really be happy until we can do some runs that arenТt at all dependent onhim. Ф He paused a moment and looked up again at the blank spot in the middle of the air, where the simulation system had shown them the Earth that was to be. УWell, nothappy, of courseЧbut thatТs what it will take to startconvincing me.Ф

Norla nodded. УThatТs about the way I figure it. But letТs just say itТs getting harder todis believe. We already knew the terraformed worlds were in big trouble. Why should Earth be immune?Ф

Yuri shrugged. УWhy should it?Ф he agreed glumly. Plainly, EarthwasnТt immune. That was proved in every run of the model. As the terraformed worlds collapsed, their refugees descended on Earth, bringing any number of highly evolved microbes and other unpleasant things back home with them. The details of how and when it happened changed from one run of the simulation to the next, but always, sooner or laterЧoften soonerЧEarth died. In some runs, the home planet lived fifteen hundred years or more into the future. Other times, it was little more than half that long. Only rarely did it last much longer than a thousand.

But DeSilvo claimed to have found a way out. All they had to do was deal with the devil, and he would save them all. УSo is it today?Ф Yuri asked.

УWhat?Ф

УThe big meeting.Ф

УYes. And you should be there.Ф

УProbably best that I wasnТt,Ф Yuri replied. УIТm really not that excited to be in the same room withhim. Ф After all, he had done his best to kill DeSilvo a few days before.

УYouТre allowed to say his name, you know,Ф Norla said, plainly amused. УYou can say СDeSilvoТ instead ofЧФ she paused to place one hand outstretched in melodramatic fashion and put the other to her foreheadЧУСhim.ТФ

Yuri Sparten laughed and smiledЧtwo things he hadnТt done in a long time. Up until a few days before, heТd been playing the part of a sort-of double agent, watching Koffield for the SCO Station Security Force. What he had not realized was that, more than likely, the Chronologic Patrol Intelligence Corps saw all of what the SSF sawЧor that DeSilvo had been tapping the SSFТs comm since well before Yuri had been born. Yuri had found out the hard way that he was not suited to such work, to the secrets and the evasions and the out-and-out lies. He was surprised to find how much of a relief it was to be exposed, to have the game be over and done with. He was discovering that he liked himself a great deal better, now that the mask had come off.

УAll right, all right,Ф he said. УI donТt think itТs such a good idea if I spend much time withDeSilvo. Better?Ф

УBetter. But youТre going to have to, sooner or later. WeТre all cooped up here together. And for what itТs worth, I donТt think DeSilvo will enjoy todayТs meeting much. Did you read Dr. AshdinТs background report?Ф