"Gwyneth Jones - Saving Tiamaat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Gwyneth)

тАЬIтАЩve tried, itтАЩs worse. If I donтАЩt take my punishment, IтАЩm sick for days.тАЭ

The intimacy of his gesture (skin on skin) was an invitation and a prom-ise; it
made me smile. We walked into the Parliament Building together, buoyant in the
knocked-down gravity that I love although I know itтАЩs bad for you.

In the Foyer, we met the rest of the company, identified by the Diaspora
ParliamentтАЩs latest adventure in biometrics, the aura tag. To our vision, the KiAn
Working Party was striated orange/yellow, nice cheerful implications, nothing too
deep. The pervasive systems were seeing a lot more, but that didnтАЩt bother Pel├й or
me; we had no secrets from Speranza.

The KiAn problem had been a matter of concern since their world had been
тАЬdiscoveredтАЭ by a Balas/Shet prospector, and joined the minuscule roster of
populated planets linked by instantaneous transit. Questions had been raised then,
over the grave social imbalance: the tiny international ruling caste, the exploited
masses. But neither the Ki nor the An would accept arbitration (why the hell should
they?).The noninterference lobby is the weakest faction in the Chamber,
quarantine-until-theyтАЩre-civilized was not considered an option. Inevitably, around
thirty local years after first contact, the Ki had risen against their overlords, as often
in the past. Inevitably, this time they had modern weapons. They had not succeeded
in wiping out the An, but they had pretty much rendered the shared planet
uninhabitable.

We were here to negotiate a rescue package. WeтАЩd done the damage, we had
to fix it, that was the DPтАЩs line. The Ki and the An no doubt had their own ideas as
to what was going on: they were new to the Interstellar Dias-pora, not to politics.

But they were here, at least; so that seemed hopeful.

The Ki Federation delegates were unremarkable. There were five of them, they
conformed to the тАЬsentient bipedтАЭ bodyplan that unites the diaspora. Three were
wearing Balas business suits in shades of brown, two were in gray military uniform.
The young coleaders of the An were better dressed, and one of the two, in
particular, was much better look-ing. Whatever you believe about the origins of the
тАЬdiasporaтАЭ (Strong theory, Weak theory, something between) itтАЩs strange how many
measures of beauty are common to us all. He was tall, past two meters: he had large
eyes, a mane of rich brown head-hair, an open, strong-boned face, poreless bronze
skin, and a glorious smile. He would be my charge. His coleader, the subordinate
partner, slight and small, almost as dowdy as the Ki, would be Pel├йтАЩs.

They were codenamed Baal and Tiamaat, the names I will use in this ac-count.
The designations Ki and An are also codenames.

We moved off to a briefing room. Joset Moricherri, one of the Blue
Permanent Secretaries, made introductory remarks. A Green Belt Colonel, Shamaz
HaaтАЩagaan, gave a talk on station security. A slightly less high-ranking DP
administrator got down to basics: standard time conventions, shopping allowances,
access to the elevators, restricted areas, housekeepingтАжThose who hadnтАЩt provided