"David Drake - RCN 01 - With the Lightnings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

тАЬPardon, pardon!тАЭ a workman growled to AdeleтАЩs back in a nasal Kostroman accent. She stepped sideways into
the room, feeling her abdominal muscles tense in anger.
The man hadnтАЩt been impolite, technically: Adele was standing in the doorway through which he and his mate
needed to carry a plank. But there was no hint in his tone that the off-planet librarian was his superior or, for that
matter, anything but a pain in the neck.
A six-foot board wasnтАЩt much of a load for two people to carry, but even that wasnтАЩt why Adele -became dizzy
with frustration. That was a result of seeing the material, polished hardwood with a rich, swirling grain. It was probably
as pretty a piece of lumber as sheтАЩd ever seen in her life.
Elector Jonathan Ignatius, Walter IIIтАЩs immediate predecessor, was a member of the Delfi clan and an enthusiastic
hunter. JonathanтАЩs absence on a six-month, multi-planet safari had permitted rivals in the Hajas and Zojira clans to
prepare the coup that unseated him the night of his return.
Walter by contrast wanted to be remembered as a patron of learning, possibly because he had no more formal
education than the Emperor Charlemagne. HeтАЩd decided to found an electoral library under the carefully neutral
direction of a Cinnabar scholar living in exile on the Alliance world of Bryce. HeтАЩd assembled the contents of the
library by the simple expedient of stripping books, papers, and electronic storage media from Delfi households and
those of their collateral clans.
The lootтАФAdele couldnтАЩt think of another word to describe itтАФwas piled here in a variety of boxes and crates.
Most of them werenтАЩt marked, and she didnтАЩt trust the labels on those which had them. The only order in the library
was the view out the north windows, onto the formal gardens.
What Adele needed to startтАФwhat she had -requested as many times and in as many ways as she could
imagineтАФwas three thousand feet of rough shelving. What she was getting from the carpenters WalterтАЩs chamberlain
had assigned to the project was cabinetry of a standard that would grace a formal dining room. At the present rate of
progress, the job would be done sometime in the next century.
There was no doubt about the skill of the carpenters, these two journeymen and the master cabinetmaker who
never left her shop on the ground floor and never touched a tool with her own hands that Adele had seen. They were
simply the wrong people for the job. The twenty Kostroman library assistants whom Adele was to train to the
standards of Cinnabar or the central worlds of the AllianceтАФthese were with only a few exceptions the wrong people
for any job.
Laughter boomed in the hallway. Adele sidled -another step away from the door and put her straight back
against the wall. The band of tile at neck level felt cool and helped keep her calm. Bracey, one of her assistants, entered
with two other men whom Adele didnтАЩt recognize.
That didnтАЩt mean they werenтАЩt library assistants: the positions had been granted as political favors to relatives
who needed jobs. The only blessing was that most of them, lazy scuts with neither ability nor interest in library work,
didnтАЩt bother to show up. Those who did pilfered and damaged materials through careless disregard.
Bracey, a Zojira collateral, was one of those who -often came to the library. Unfortunately.
The trio entered the room, passing a bottle among them. From the smell of their breath as they strode past Adele
she was surprised they were still able to move, let alone climb the lovely helical staircase to the third floor.
Three other assistants were in the library. Two were fondling one another in a corner. Their lives were at risk if in
passion they managed to dislodge the boxes stacked to either side. The third assistant was Vanness, who was actually
trying to organize a crate of what were probably logbooks. Alone of her тАЬassistants,тАЭ Vanness had the interest that
was a necessary precondition to becoming useful. The Kostroman wasnтАЩt any real help now, but Adele could cure his
ignorance if she just got some room to work in.
тАЬHey, save me seconds!тАЭ Bracey called to the couple in the corner. AdeleтАЩs presence hadnтАЩt concerned them, but
now they sprang apart.
One of BraceyтАЩs companions tugged his arm, nodding toward Adele behind them. Bracey waved the bottle to her
and said, тАЬHey, chiefie! Want a drink?тАЭ
Bracey burped loudly; his companions lapsed into giggles. Adele looked through the Kostroman as if he didnтАЩt
exist, then walked to the data console sheтАЩd spent most of the past two weeks getting in order because that was within
her capacity to achieve without the help of anyone else . . . and she didnтАЩt have the help of anyone else.
The console was of high-quality Cinnabar manufacture and so new that it was still crated in the vestibule of the