"Edward M. Lerner - Part III of IV - A New Order of Things" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lerner Edward M)

Art stirred his coffee with reflexes finally adjusted to Callisto. Across the caf├Г┬й table, Eva tore morsels
from her bagel. Some day he needed to explain to her the accepted meaning of finger food. Or--flash of
insight--maybe not. His apparent inability to keep some observations to himself was part of why Maya
said living with him involved "more Art than science."

The eatery near their offices was nothing to vidmail home about, but breakfast together was now part of
their routine. He knew he looked forward to it.

On the corner 3-V, talking heads discussed the pending constitutional referendum on Titan to legalize
polygamy. He ignored them. "What's on your schedule today?"

"Coordinating with folks at Hawking Observatory. Supervising some postdocs at Callisto Tech doing
ZPE experiments. Indira Singh finally arrives from Triton this afternoon to talk quantum-string theory. Fun
stuff."

Which was to say, doing her best to reconcile the contradictory and inconclusive data about the
interstellar drive: oblique hints and condescending comments from the Snakes, indirect observations,
subtle inferences. They had precious little hard fact, beyond the faint gravity ripples detected during the
demo. Getting ready, in short, to take custody of the to-be-transferred lifeboat. She rattled on about
specifics, quickly going way over his head.

Mashkith had vetoed Eva's request through Ambassador Chung for one of the lifeboats presently
aboard Victorious. "The answer would be 'no' if only because we already lack one lifeboat, but safety is
not my main reason. I wish to avoid skepticism whether this lifeboat truly has interstellar capability. The
vessel on its way has already demonstrated its interstellar drive. Your cynics have seen it. That is the
boat the UP will receive." The Foremost's touchy reaction had only gotten Art further into Chung's
disfavor. Abstractly, Art would have thought that impossible.

"I said, 'And you?'" Eva was frowning at him.

"Sorry. Synapse misfire."

"Fine. Don't tell me."

Sigh. "Nothing much." Antimatter transfers did not involve him. The resupply effort was largely complete.
"Maybe I'll look into the diminished sulfur level on Victorious."

"The K'vithians proved they had antimatter before we seriously discussed refueling. They demoed the
interstellar drive we're getting in exchange. Art, you did what you set out to do. Why not relax for a bit?
Scale back to, I don't know, six days a week?"

"Do you trust Chung to...?"

She gently slapped his hand. "You're a prime example why that referendum is happening on Titan. Too
many men with trust issues."

Before he could decide whether to comment on that, she had excused herself and headed off to work.
****
K'vithians and crew-kindred faced each other in two shallow arcs. A long scroll lay open on the deck