"Liz Martin - Bright Cloud of Music" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin Liz)

"What cheer, boss?" Secure in his brilliance, Itohaki pushed a shock of black hair out of his face and
grinned around the group.

"Special Itohaki was the ace on duty," Kozinski said. Employing an uncharacteristic brevity, he said, "He
is the best." It was not specified at what he was the best. Itohaki bowed.

"Forgery and caricature," Zack said, dredging up a memory of official papers.

"Convicted as charged." Itohaki gave a monkey's grimace as Kozinski's hand tightened visibly on his arm.
"Serene Governor Roberts, sir."

"And yet the Sirius is...gone?" Wu Lin said from under Zack's elbow.

Kozinski took it as an accusation. "I do not shoot the hunter when the hart goes over a cliff," he rumbled.
His grin crooked, Itohaki watched them all through a screen of hair.

Zack felt silently convicted of collusion with Wu Lin and Kozinski, free men all. "Show us, Doctor," he
said.

Instead, Itohaki leaned forward to caress the top of a dark screen set into a console. Immediately, a ball
of light came into being above the console. A holographic command sphere, the non-material projection
was designed to control the simagery projection of the Core by interaction with a warm human body and
voice. The ball swam with the same ocean scene in miniature that lapped around them on the walls. The
Nipponese tech stroked the holosphere. "0252 Empire Time, today," he said. "Full view, no
atmosphere." His long fingers curved from zenith to nadir, cupping light as if he could feel it, smoothing
the virtual surface. Warming to the heat of his gesture, the holosphere flushed dark, as did the dome
above them in imitation, blackness stroking smoothly down the walls to meet underfoot. Stars sprang out
all around, sharp as pinpricks in the sky.

Itohaki said, "Crux."

Nearly overhead, as it would appear from the surface of Europa's south geometric pole, the four-pointed
diamond of the Crux blazed as the most prominent star group. Kozinski put his fists on his hips, perhaps
to keep from crossing himself. Wu Lin folded his hands.

"Magnify, Zenith, 30 degrees of arc," Itohaki said. "Center, Epsilon Crux, and highlight." The middle
section of the dome seemed to leap closer. Crux spread out to show points of light that had been hidden.
"Here," Itohaki said. Well beyond its magnitude, a dim star flared within the heart of the constellation. He
added reverently, "Epsilon."

Epsilon Crux. In spite of himself, Zack's neck tightened.

Over two centuries ago, the Celestial Empire's punishment ship had left Earth for Epsilon, taking over the
provincial flight plan from start to finish. Not another yuan had been spent on extragalactic technologies,
but the race to turn the solar system into a dump for the refuse of Earth had begun with the billows of
Sirius's solid rocket boosters. Today, three thousand imprisoned souls and one thousand Imperial
volunteers slept in cold stasis on their way to the star. Of the twelve planets that encircled Epsilon, two
might do for a virgin Earth. Two uninhabited planets with oxygen/nitrogen atmospheres and oceans of
water; one hot, steaming and jungle-clad, the other cold, cold as Europa. Two new homes, unpolluted by
man.