"Stephen Goldin - The Sword Unswayed" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

"And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"I took the liberty of checking your college records, too. Everything except your class transcripts has
been sealed shut. Officially, you're absolutely pure."

"That's me. I put driven snow to shame."

"Odd, don't you think, that such an innocent young girl was best friends with a hooligan like Bian Dinh."

"Not so odd, if you think about it. I talk to you, don't I?"

***

"If you want my help, Bian," Rabinowitz said, "I'll need facts."

"I have not lied to you," Dinh said, but she refused to meet Rabinowitz's gaze over the phone line.

"Partial truths are more misleading than lies. Or did you forget I grew up hosting diplomatic functions?
Tell me everything about your relationship with this guy on K'tolu'tan."

"He was a publisher. He had read some of my works on the politics of food, and they spoke to the
rebellious nature within his own soul. He wanted me to write a book specifically about the politics of food
on K'tolu'tan."

"Did he reach you through your agent?"

"I'm . . .between agents at the moment. He contacted me directly. He said he would use the proposed
book as a call to arms."

"The little bit of research I've had time for says food and eating are taboo subjects on K'tolu'tan."

Dinh nodded. "Totally. That was what was so wonderful. P'tar'houn-Hoc wanted to challenge the
established order. Like us, he was a progressive thinker who believed in freedom of speech and ideas."

"Like us," Rabinowitz echoed with a trace of cynicism. "Were you involved with him personally in any
way?"

Dinh looked at her, her face a mask of innocence. "What are you implying?"
"You're not the only one who remembers good old college days."

Having attended Polycultural Institute with Dinh for three years, Rabinowitz would have believed nothing
could embarrass the other woman. Apparently she was wrong, for Dinh looked flustered as she said,
"Do you know what K'tolu'tanou look like?"

"No, but I know what Reticuleans look like, and I remember that one weekend --"

"K'tolu'tanou look like soft-shelled crabs walking erect. If P'tar'houn-Hoc tempted me in any physical