"Gwyneth Jones - The Tomb Wife" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Gwyneth)

тАЬNothing at all.тАЭ SigurtтАЩs pointed teeth flashed: the modified
aggression of a grin, which seemed to be a constant of humanoid life. тАЬHow
quick of you, Elen, youтАЩre exactly right. A lady of rank did not allow herself to
be seen, once sheтАЩd taken up residence. Her servants or family would
continue to supply her needs, but they were forbidden, by the ladyтАЩs own
will and testament, to go looking for her, and the tomb could be a large and
complex building. Nobody would know when, precisely, the offerings
became offerings to the dead.тАЭ He paused. тАЬIsnтАЩt that beautiful? After a
yearтАФor thereabouts, depending on the liturgical calendarтАФthe
undertakers were allowed inside. The ladyтАЩs remains would be found and
thereтАЩd be a funeral. In the case of our princess, however, legend has it that
no remains were ever recovered. And that is how this particular tomb
became known as тАШhaunted.тАЩтАЭ

тАЬShe probably legged it one dark night,тАЭ decided Rafe, with relief: and
then blushed. тАЬUh, sorry if thatтАЩs a poor taste idea, Sigurt, no offense.тАЭ

тАЬNone taken.тАЭ

тАЬArenтАЩt you a LarтАЩszтАЩian, Sigurt?тАЭ wondered Carter, the burly shipтАЩs
doctor, who wore the captainтАЩs armband. тАЬLarziote, Larzy-ite, however you
say it?тАЭ Carter was one of those people who have to assert themselves in
the presence of celebrity or renown. He had a horror of showing deference
to anything or anyone.

For a moment the alien bristled, a startled double-take of affront,
thought Elen (although she couldnтАЩt be sure). The LarтАЩszтАЩ were now (when
is now, where is now?) an impoverished, short-lived remnant. The famous
tombs, temples, ruins, were scattered over scratch-dirt, subsistence
farming desert country. Maybe it was like telling a Brazilian youтАЩd thought he
was Portugese.

тАЬMy family has TeneтАЩLarтАЩt ancestry, but itтАЩs a long way back.тАЭ

Nadeem the Commissar shifted in his recollection of a birchwood
chair: restless with thoughts he knew nobody shared. тАЬWhy do you say
тАШTomb Wife,тАЩ Sigurt? Why a lady? You beings donтАЩt have our two biological
sexes.тАЭ

Nadeem was a Diaspora-denier. He would bore the socks off you
explaining, interminably, how actually there was no uncontroversial
evidence that all planetary variants on the sentient biped model, all the
possessors of тАЬnuminous intelligence,тАЭ capable of interstellar transit, were
descended from a single species. He passionately refused to accept that
the original species had been a hominid from the Blue PlanetтАФa precursor
of Homo sapiens who had flourished and vanished, leaving only the faintest
and most puzzling of traces. ItтАЩs only a theory, heтАЩd insist.

And yet the man was a scientist.