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

УOr maybe it absolutelydepends on you.Ф

УSo, what? Should I do exactly the opposite of what IТd do if I did think it was just by chance that he mentioned it?Ф

Norla smiled. УThatТs got so many conditionals in it IТm not even sure I followed it the whole way. But maybe that would be a good ideaЧif we knew for sure what he expected you to doЧand if we knew for sure that wedidnТt want his plan to succeed.Ф

УBut we havenТt the faintest idea what sort of plan he has!Ф

УOr even if the diehards are there. Maybe heТs just plain been alone too long and has a tendency to babble. Maybe he was just making conversation. Or maybe he was lying. Maybe there isnТt any diehard colony out thereЧbut he wants us to think there is.Ф

Yuri groaned. УI thought I was out from under all this,Ф he said. УNo more spying, no more cover stories, no more secrets.Ф A few minutes before, Yuri had felt lucky to be unexpectedly free of the land of secrets, out of the forest of mirrors. Truth and lies, right and wrong, honor and deception had become mere reflections of each other, each reflection reversing the original, before being reversed again in some further mirror. Now he was thrust back in again, his return as involuntary as his departure.

УSorry about that,Ф Norla said. УBut I think DeSilvoТs put us all back into the game.Ф

Yuri nodded and returned to his work, setting up the next run. УYeah,Ф he said. He worked silently for a moment, and spoke again. УIТll be there for Dr. AshdinТs presentation,Ф he said. УI have to look at him, see if I can get some sort of feel for what heТs doing.Ф

Have to. The words echoed in his head, for they were all too true. He had no choice in the matter.And who was it who took away my freedom to choose? Yuri knew the answer to that one all too well. He was already doing what DeSilvo wanted, his motions and gestures as utterly controlled, as involuntaryЧand as meaninglessЧas the motions of DeSilvoТs reflection, a shadow forever trapped inside a mirror.



They met in the usual conference room. Koffield got there a bit early and watched as the others came in. DeSilvo arrived last, his expression completely neutral, a chessmasterТs face, carefully arranged so as to reveal absolutely nothing.

The rest of the party having assembled, Koffield nodded and looked around the table. УShall we begin?Ф he asked.

УIf we must,Ф DeSilvo said. УThe tone of Dr. AshdinТs written report was far different from what I expected it to be. It was my impression that it was not to be anywhere near as accusatory as it seems to have become. I thought Dr. AshdinТs written report was simply to gather together a coherent narrative of past events.Ф

УYeahЧso we maybe we can figure out better what you got wrong and what you got rightЧthis time,Ф said Jerand Bolt.

DeSilvo glared at the source of the interruption. УIf you please, Bolt, I would appreciate if we could maintain a level of discourse on a professional, if not scholarly, level.Ф The fact that Bolt had saved DeSilvoТs life a few days before clearly did not earn him much license.

УRight,Ф said Bolt. УIТll do that.Ф

УIТd appreciate it,Ф DeSilvo answered smoothly. He looked past Bolt to Wandella Ashdin, who sat between Bolt and KoffieldТs place at the far end of the table. УDr. Ashdin. YouТre a scholar, not an advocate. Surely you agree that this need not be an adversarial proceeding.Ф

УI agree that I do notwish it to be adversarial, and it was not my intent to make it so. But I fear I can see no way to avoid that result completely. We are here to review and consider what has already happened, with the goal of deciding what to do nextЧand also to decide whether or not we should be guided by your ideas of how to proceed.

УYou yourself said that we must draw our own conclusions, because you felt you could not entirely trust yourself or your data. Indeed,you brought us to this place in part for the purpose of examining the situation and providing you with our views. And, needless to say,you caused most of what happened, and it was, ultimately,your actions that brought us to this place, and these circumstances. How can we judge the matters before us without, in some degree, judging you and your actions? Tell me how to square that circle, and I will do it.Ф

She paused briefly, but was greeted with nothing but silence. УThere is no law here, no social restraint on you. You control our access to light, food, air, water, warmth, our ability to leave, and virtually everything else. There can be no middle ground. We must have the courage to judge our jailer, knowing he could, at a whim, be our executioner, or else we must speak so as to please youЧin which case there was no point at all to bringing us here.Ф

DeSilvo did not answer at first. He looked around the room. His fingers twitched for a moment, as if he were about to start drumming them on the table, but then he brought his hand under control. УYour points are all well taken, Dr. Ashdin. I do not agree with themЧbut my situation is strange, as well. In order to get what I want from youЧyour honest evaluations and true opinionsЧI must accept certainother honest and true thoughts. I reluctantly withdraw my objections.Ф

Koffield was fascinated. He had thought they had been brought there because DeSilvo was a sane man who knew he might have driven himself mad, cut himself off from humanity and humanness in new and strange ways. But he was starting to understand that DeSilvoknew he was mad and wanted them all there to push him back to sanity. DeSilvo, indeed all of them, teetered precariously, balanced on the point of a knife. Tilt too far one way or another, and it would be all over. The only safety, the only way forward, was in the extremely narrow middle ground, where madness and sanity stood in judgment of each other.

There was no safe way to say any of that. But then, there was no longer any safe way to say or do anything. УPerhaps it would be best if we got started,Ф he said. УDr. Ashdin?Ф

УThank you, Admiral.Ф She stood up and looked around the room.

УI will begin by amplifying a few points made in the written background report,Ф she said. But another voice cut in before she could go on.