"03 - Time Streams" - читать интересную книгу автора (McGough Scott)

lately the hideaway brought her as much sadness as joy.

She'd been at the academy for eight years now, learning

all she could of machines. A prodigy when she arrived,

Jhoira was now a formidable artificer. She was also a woman,

or at eighteen nearly so, and was weary of the school and

the kids, of brimstone and machine oil. She was sick to

death of artifice and illusion and wanted something real-

someone real.

Jhoira closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath of salty

air into her lungs. Her soul mate would be tall and bronze-

skinned, like the young Ghitu tribesmen back home-keen-eyed

and strong. He would be smart, yes, but not like Teferi and

the other boys who tried to get Jhoira's attention through

juvenile antics and unsubtle innuendoes. He would be a man,

and he would be mysterious. That was most important of all.

She could not be in love with a man unless, at the core of

his being, there was mystery.

She opened her eyes and shifted her weight, one sandal

sending up a puff of dust. "I'm a fool. There's not a man

like that in the world." Even if there were, she'd never get

to meet him, not while she was stuck on this blasted island.



* * * * *



Standing, the silver man awoke. He had moved before, had