"Babylon 5 - Legions of Fire 03 - Out of the Darkness - Peter David" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babylon 5)

"Ambassador, with all respect, what he spoke of doesn't matter. In these sorts of things, what is not said is often more important than what is. I am telling you, we are-"
"We are Drazi! And you are coward!" Luddig said angrily, stabbing a finger at Vidkun.
"Sir, I am no coward," Vidkun said, bristling.
"Yes! Your own cowardice stops you from seeing that Centauri do not wish to anger Drazi! You are not worthy of being aide to Luddig! A new aide will be required upon our return!"
Vidkun was about to argue the point further, protesting the accusations of cowardice, when the door opened and Lione entered again, stooping slightly to avoid the top of the door frame. "The prime minister wishes to see you, but his schedule simply will not allow for it today. Tomorrow, however, bright and early,


he would be more than happy to discuss the matter. In the meantime, deluxe accommodations have been arranged for you at a facility nearby. We certainly hope that will suffice."
"For now," Luddig said noncommittally. "We reserve judgment until we actually see accommodations."
"Very prudent," Lione said agreeably.
As they headed down to street level, Vidkun's head was spinning. Every early warning system in his makeup was screaming at him that they were in mortal danger. But Luddig was so overwhelmingly confident, and Lione seemed so eager to please, that he was finding it harder and harder to believe that there was, in fact, any jeopardy. It might be, he thought bleakly, that Luddig was correct. Perhaps he was indeed a coward, and simply didn't have the proper mental strength to pursue a career in the diplomatic corps.
They walked out into the street, a pleasant sun beaming down at them, and a glorious day on Centauri Prime apparently lying ahead of them. There were passersby, casting glances in their direction, but there did not appear to be any problem. There were Prime Candidates forming a protective circle around them, but Luddig-chatting animatedly with Lione-didn't pay them any mind. He was calm, cool, and confidently secure that he had a complete handle on the situation.
"Kill the Drazi!"
The shout came from someone in the crowd, and it was suddenly taken up by others. What had appeared only moments before to be a benign, loose assemblage of people suddenly firmed up into a mob.
"Kill the Drazi! Death to outworlders! Centauri Prime over all! Death to enemies of the Great Republic!" These and other sentiments suddenly seemed to come from everyone, everywhere.
And the enraged Centauri citizens were advancing, coming in from all sides.
The Prime Candidates melted away. Suddenly the protective wall of bodies was gone.
Luddig's accusation no longer registered in Vidkun's mind. He was beyond cowardice. He was terrified. The infuriated Centauri were moving toward them with one mind, and there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run. Then suddenly a strong hand was on his arm, pulling him away. The last thing he saw was Luddig

going down beneath the clubs and fists of the crowd. Luddig was screaming, and it wasn't a particularly brave-sounding scream. It was high-pitched, and plaintive, and rather pathetic.
Someone held him. Vidkun let out a yelp and turned to see the face of the man who was about to kill him.
To his surprise, there was no anger in the expression of the Centauri man who had yanked him away from the crowd. The Centauri's long, black/red hair was high and swept up. His face was very angular, his chin coming almost to a point. It was his eyes that caught Vidkun the most, though. There was intensity, at least in one of them, but. ..
Then the world seemed to whirl around as someone else pulled at him, and just as quickly as he had been in the midst of danger, Vidkun was being thrust back into the Tower of Power. He staggered, looking around at his saviors: the very same Prime Candidates who had deserted them moments before, leaving them to the mercy of the mob. The red-haired Centauri was no longer in sight.
Vidkun thought he heard Luddig screaming once more, but then the scream was cut short by a sound like a melon being crushed. The expressions of the Prime Candidates never wavered. They simply stood there, like automatons.
"To my office," came a voice, the voice of Lione. Vidkun was still in shock and offered no resistance as he was escorted back upstairs. Moments later he was seated opposite Castig Lione. He couldn't help but notice that he had been seated in the chair closer to the desk: the one that Luddig had been sitting in.
Lione was shaking his head with a great air of tragedy. "How unfortunate. How very, very unfortunate," he intoned. "To think that such a thing would happen. But there are random acts of violence everywhere. .."
"Random?"
"Yes."
"Acts of violence?" He was having trouble processing the words. He had to fight to bring his full faculties to bear upon the situation.
"Yes. Here the two of you were, walking the streets of Centauri Prime, and a lone madman attacked and killed your superior. We tried to stop it, of course."
"A... lone madman?" He felt a pounding in his head, as if his

brain were shouting at him to pull himself together, and match what was being said with what had happened.
"Yes, of course. There's only so much protection even the most dedicated guards can offer in the face of such ..." He shook his head. "Very likely, it was the work of the rebels and saboteurs. They were endeavoring to discredit the Centaurum, and such actions are taken to reflect poorly upon this government in the eyes of others. In any event, it is pointless to dwell upon it. My guards dispatched the madman. Justice was done, and it's important that we put the whole unfortunate business behind us."
"You ordered it!" Vidkun was trying to rally. "You ordered the assault! The mob! You!"
"Mob!" Lione sounded shocked. "I saw no mob. Nor, I would suggest, did you." Then he smiled and reached into his pocket. Vidkun automatically flinched, bracing himself for some sort of weapon to be drawn, but Lione instead simply pulled out what appeared to be a credit chip and extended it to Vidkun.
Vidkun took it, looking at it blankly. "What is this ... ?"
"Access to a private account that Luddig set up. He thought we did not have right of entry to it. Luddig apparently thought a number of things that were in error." He shrugged. "It was where he was siphoning payments from the various worlds..."
"Worlds?"
"You don't seriously think that Mipas was unique, do you?" The very notion appeared laughable to him. "No, no ... Luddig had a number of 'clients.' There are quite a few worlds out there in which the Drazi maintain interests. Interests that stem from tradition . . . and from profit.
"Everyone is interested in protecting his or her interests, Vidkun. Luddig, unfortunately, is no longer capable of protecting his. You are. His interests ... have become your interests. And very likely his position . . . presuming you are canny enough, judicious enough, and..." He cleared his throat and indicated the credit chip with a nod. "... generous enough to make things happen. If, that is, you are interested in doing so."
He stopped talking for a moment, and it seemed to Vidkun as if he was waiting for Vidkun to say something. But the Drazi did not speak. Something warned him that it would be wiser not to.
Lione's lips thinned into a death's-head smile.

"You could, of course, take a more aggressive stance," he acknowledged. "Try to rally the Alliance against us. Endeavor to prove your case. Anger a good number of people; upset a number of agreements that are understood amidst more people than you would truly believe possible. You could do all that. I have to admit I would not advise it. But it is a way you might go."
Vidkun found the nerve to speak. "And if I indicate that is what I am going to do ... then I, too, would suffer an accident."
Slowly Lione shook his head. "That would be a foolish position for me to take. You could agree to anything I say ... then once you are off-world, safely beyond concerns for your own life and limb, you might say and do anything you wish. Threats are extremely unreliable. What 1 am endeavoring to point out is that cooperation is far more to your advantage. It will benefit you. It will serve your needs. You do have needs, I assume. You are still quite young. There are things you want to accomplish, goals you wish to achieve. A quiet understanding will get a great deal that rabble-rousing and accusations will not."
"And in the meantime, you will attack more worlds, as you did Mipas..."
"Mipas was a threat. If you believe nothing else I tell you, believe that. We acted in self-defense, nothing more. You seem a reasonable person. How can any reasonable person condemn us for that? That is indeed the entire point of the barter system which Luddig so deftly oversaw. The moneys paid are an act of good faith. We do not ask for it; it is offered freely. Even if we were not paid, we would still not attack. Assorted worlds have these arrangements with us at their behest, not ours. They misunderstand the Centauri mind-set. We are not out to destroy others, no. No, not at all. Our intention is simply to make certain that no one ever attacks us again. We are not bullies. We just desire to show that we are strong. You do see the difference, do you not?"
"Yes. Yes, I do," Vidkun said slowly.