"George R. R. Martin - With Morning Comes Mistfall (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

were coming up, so I got slapped onto a political beat. That was fine by me.
It was a lively campaign, and there was a ton of good stories to be mined.
But throughout it all, I kept myself up on the little news that came out
of Wraithworld. And finally, as I'd expected, Dubowski announced a press
conference. As the syndicate's resident wraith, I got myself assigned to
cover, and headed out on the fastest starship I could find.
I got there a week before the conference, ahead of everyone else. I had
beamed Sanders before taking ship, and he met me at the spaceport. We
adjourned to the dining balcony, and had our drinks served out there.
"Well?" I asked him, after we had traded amenities. "You know what
Dubowski's going to announce?"
Sanders looked very glum. "I can guess," he said. "He called in all his
damn gadgets a month ago, and he's been cross-checking findings on a computer.
We've had a couple of wraith sightings since you left. Dubowski moved in hours
after each sighting, and went over the areas with a fine-tooth comb. Nothing.
That's what he's going to announce, I think. Nothing."
I nodded. "Is that so bad, though? Gregor found nothing."
"Not the same," Sanders said. "Gregor didn't look

the way Dubowski has. People will believe him, whatever he says."
I wasn't so sure of that, and was about to say so;'. when Dubowski
arrived. Someone must have told him' I was there. He came striding out on the
balcony,, smiling, spied me, and came over to sit down.
Sanders glared at him, and studied his drink. Dubowski trained all of
his attention on me. He seemed very pleased with himself. He asked what I'd
been do
ing since I left, and I told him, and he said that was nice.
Finally I got to ask him about his results. "No Comment," he said.
"That's what I've called the press conference for."
"C'mon," I said. "I covered you for months when, everybody else was
ignoring the expedition. You can' give me some kind of beat. What have you
got?"
He hesitated. "Well, O.K.," he said doubtfully. "Bu don't release it
yet. You can beam it out a few hours ahead of the conference. That should be
enough time, for a beat."
I nodded agreement. "What do you have?"
"The wraiths," he said. "I have the wraiths, bagge
neatly. They don't exist. I've got enough evidence to
prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt." He smiled'
broadly. -
 "Just because you didn't find anything?" I started.' "Maybe they were
avoiding you. If they're sentient ;┬░ they might be smart enough. Or maybe
they're beyond the ability of your sensors to detect."
- "Come now," Dubowski said. "You don't believe
that. Our wraith traps had every kind of sensor we
could come up with. If the wraiths existed, they would'
have registered on something. But they didn't. We had
the traps planted in the areas where three of Sanders's
so-called sightings took place. Nothing. Absolutely
nothing. Conclusive proof that those people were see