"David Drake - RCN 02 - Lt. Leary Commanding" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

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frightened himтАФrightly, because at that age she might well have shot him if he'd attempted to justify his
falsehood. He'd lied to her out of patriotism; error has no right to exist!

The usher inside the bronze doors nodded warmly to Adele. She blinked in surprise. "Fandler, isn't it?
Good to see you still here."

The usher stepped out from his kiosk so that he could bow properly to her. "Good to seeyou , Ms.
Mundy. All of us here at the Celsus were afraid something had happened to you during the late
unpleasantness."

"Nothing worth mentioning, Fandler," Adele said. That was true enough, in absolute termsтАФwhat human
activityis really worth mentioning?тАФand true also relative to those whose heads had decorated the
Speaker's Rock.

She strode on through the cool rotunda, her steps echoing. It really was like coming home.

Banks of data consoles, separated from one another by panels of soundproofing foam for modest
privacy, lined the tables of the wings on either side of the rotunda. There were three hundred and twelve
consoles; there had been when Adele last entered the Celsus, at any rate, and it all appeared the same.
Forty or so were occupied at the moment.

She walked to the desk across from the entrance, glancing down at the pavement tessellated in bands of
soft grays and blues. It hadn't changed since the day Adele Mundy left Cinnabar.

She herself had changed, though.

Clerks sat behind the counter, working at consoles of their own. A page sorted volumes from a large
table onto a cart, looking up at the sound of Adele's footsteps.

The official at the desk flanking the passage to the stacks of hard copy within the building was only a few
years older than Adele; she'd never met him. His eyes glanced from the naval uniform to her face as she
approached, his expression giving nothing away.

Adele handed him the access chip instead of inserting it into the reader herself. It was the one she'd
carried with her to Blythe; she had no idea whether it would still work.

The official glanced at the number engraved on the flat. His eyebrows raised. He set the chip on his desk
and stood.

"Ms. Adele Mundy?" he said, offering her his right hand. "I'm Lees Klopfer, Third Assistant
Administrator. I've followed your work at the Academic Collections. We're honored to have you here."

Adele shook Klopfer's hand firmly, feeling a little disconcerted. So far as she could tell, the man was
quite genuine. Only a guilty conscience made her wonder if he'd been told to greet her in that
fashionтАФand if so, by whom?