"George R. R. Martin - A Song for Lya" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

Valcarenghi ushered everybody into the aircar and we took off. "I imagine you're tired," he said after we
were airborne, "so we'll save the tour of the city and head straight for the Tower. Nelse will show you
your quarters, then you can join us for a drink, and we'll talk over the problem. You've read the materials
I sent?"
"Yes," I said. Lya nodded. "Interesting background, but I'm not sure why we're here."
"We'll get to that soon enough," Valcarenghi replied. "I ought to be letting you enjoy the scenery." He
gestured toward the window, smiled, and fell silent.
So Lya and I enjoyed the scenery, or as much as we could enjoy during the five-minute flight from
spaceport to tower. The aircar was whisking down the main street at treetop level, stirring up a breeze
that whipped the thin branches as we went by. It was cool and dark in the interior of the car, but outside
the Shkeen sun was riding toward noon, and you could see the heat waves shimmering from the
pavement. The population must have been inside huddled around their air-conditioners, because we saw
very little traffic.
We got out near the main entrance to the Tower and walked through a huge, sparkling-clean lobby.
Valcarenghi left us then to talk to some underlings. Gourlay led us into one of the tubes and we shot up
fifty floors. Then we waltzed past a secretary into another, private tube, and climbed some more.
Our rooms were lovely, carpeted in cool green, and paneled with wood. There was a complete
library there, mostly Earth classics bound in synthaleather, with a few novels from Baldur, our home
world. Somebody had been researching our tastes. One of the walls of the bedroom was tinted glass,
giving a panoramic view of the city far below us, with a control that could darken it for sleeping.
Gourlay showed it to us dutifully, like a dour bellhop. I read him briefly though, and found no
resentment. He was nervous, but only slightly. There was honest affection there for someone. Us?
Valcarenghi?
Lya sat down on one of the twin beds. "Is someone bringing our luggage?" she asked.
Gourlay nodded. "You'll be well taken care of," he said. "Anything you want, ask."
"Don't worry, we will," I said. I dropped to the second bed, and gestured Gourlay to a chair. "How
long you been here?"
"Six years," he said, taking the chair gratefully and sprawling out all over it. "I'm one of the veterans.
I've worked under four administrators now. Dino, and Stuart before him, and Gustaffson before him. I
was even under Rockwood a few months."
Lya perked up, crossing her legs under her and leaning forward. "That was all Rockwood lasted,
wasn't it?"
"Right," Gourlay said. "He didn't like the planet, took a quick demotion to assistant administrator
someplace else. I didn't care much, to tell the truth. He was the nervous type, always giving orders to
prove who was boss."
"And Valcarenghi?" I asked.
Gourlay made a smile look like a yawn. "Dino? Dino's OK, the best of the lot. He's good, knows
he's good. He's only been here two months, but he's gotten a lot done, and he's made a lot of friends. He
treats the staff like people, calls everybody by his first name, all that stuff. People like that."
I was reading, and I read sincerity. It was Valcarenghi that Gourlay was affectionate toward, then.
He believed what he was saying.
I had more questions, but I didn't get to ask them. Gourlay got up suddenly. "I really shouldn't stay,"
he said. "You want to rest, right? Come up to the top in about two hours and we'll go over things with
you. You know where the tube is?"
We nodded, and Gourlay left. I turned to Lyanna. "What do you think?"
She lay back on the bed and considered the ceiling. "I don't know," she said. "I wasn't reading. I
wonder why they've had so many administrators. And why they wanted us."
"We're Talented," I said, smiling. With the capital, yes. Lyanna and I have been tested and registered
as psi Talents, and we have the licenses to prove it.
"Uh-huh," she said, turning on her side and smiling back at me. Not her vampire half-smile this time.