"Jane Lindskold - Endpoint Insurance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lindskold Jane)

cover the hole, but it was propped open now. I lowered myself slowly prone, both
so I would be less visible and to get my ears closer to the opening.
Conversation, lazy and sporadic, accompanied by rather interesting thuds and clanks
came to me. I lay there in the dirt, wishing IтАЩd brought along some peepers, hoping
that someone inside would speak up. I didnтАЩt dare sneak a look until I had a better
sense of where the occupants were in relation to the hole.
Tired as I was from my long day, the ground seemed quite comfortable and the
warm night air made my watch almost relaxing. I believe I was close to drowsing
when a new voice, male and commanding, addressed the group in the basement.
тАЬAlmost done?тАЭ
тАЬAlmost, Your Absoluteness,тАЭ replied one, bolder than the rest. These could only
manage mutters of agreement. I could almost hear the bowing and scraping.
тАЬVery good,тАЭ the first voice replied. тАЬWe shall ship out in the morning. You may as
well get some sleep. A mis-take at this point would be fatal to our Cause-and we
must be alert for our meeting with our new allies.тАЭ
I could hear the capitalization in his tones. Nor was I in the least sleepy any longer.
Adrenaline coursed through my veins, adrenaline with a chaser of pure terror.
The Absolute! Here, separated from me by just a few meters of prefab and dirt
stood the monomaniacal, charismatic leader who had galvanized his followers into
what had become the Bath War. Just a dozen standards or so past it had been
reported that he had vanished following the bombing of his headquarters. His
opposition claimed he was dead, but his followers proclaimed him alive and fought
on as if he was still at their head.
Apparently, he was. Equally apparently, he didnтАЩt want anyone to know precisely
where he was or he would have been enthroned in some public palace, defying
anything short of a planet-splitter to kill him.
I remained outside the window while the Absolute took his leave. Then I dared a
peek through the window. I glimpsed a small room, roughly dug out of the heavy,
clay soil. There was no evidence that power tools had been used, so it must have
been dug by hand-a considerable task.
Inside, by the light of battery-powered lights, four Batherites were stacking crates
near the foot of a ladder that ended below a trapdoor-closed now, though it must
have been through that square that the Absolute had addressed his followers. Even
as I watched, the workers finished their task and began to ready themselves for rest.
They were sweaty from their labors, yet their only comforts were a plastic cooler of
water, some ration bars, and a covered bucket that served as a chamber pot. When
the four had finished their sparse meal and limited ablutions, they lay down on the
floor, pillowed their heads on their arms and dropped off to sleep. The last to lay
himself down extinguished the light.
Until the ragged note of an exhausted snore convinced me that they had settled in, I
waited. Then, still shaken by what I had learned, I made my stealthy escape.
I wondered what Spike would think of my report.
I picked Spike up at our planned rendezvous several hours after my return from
Gilbert City. IтАЩd insisted on launching into my report as soon as he was aboard,
talking as I inserted the Mercury into a parking orbit on the dark side of one of the
lesser moons of Gilbert. In my excitement, I didnтАЩt give him a chance to get a word
in edgewise or to tell me his own plans-something IтАЩd regret later.
тАЬI donтАЩt think weтАЩre dealing with pirates here,тАЭ I said, concluding my tale, тАЬor not
just pirates. Those were Absolutist fanatics I saw.тАЭ
Spike nodded. He looked particularly goony today, clad in coveralls like those worn