"Paul J. McAuley - Dead Man Walking" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

arrived.
My resolve hardened when I started my shift a couple of hours later and learned that
there had been two more murders, and a minor riot in the prison library.
****
I found it laughably easy to hack into the facilityтАЩs files: I had been trained well all
those years ago, and the data system was of a similar vintage to my own. To begin
with, I checked the dossiers of recently recruited staff, but I found nothing suspicious,
and didnтАЩt have any better luck when I examined the dossiers of friends and family of
prisoners, their advocates, and traders and businesspeople currently staying in
Herschel City. It was possible that I had missed somethingтАФno doubt the assassinтАЩs
cover story was every bit as good as the one that had served me so well for so long. But
having more or less eliminated the obvious suspects, I had to consider the possibility
that, just like me, the assassin had been hiding on Ariel ever since the war had ended.
I had so much in common with my brothers and sisters that it would not be a wild
coincidence if one of them had come to the same decision as I had, and had joined the
staff of the prison. Perhaps he had finally gone insane, or perhaps the hardwired
imperatives of his old mission had kicked in. Or perhaps, like me, he had discovered
that he was coming to the end of his short life span, and had decided to have some
funтАж
In the short time before the specialist team arrived, it would be impossible to check
thoroughly the records of over three thousand staff members. I had reached a dead
end. I decided that I needed some advice.
Everyone in Herschel City and the prison was talking about the murders. During a
casual conversation with Willy Gup, I found it easy enough to ask my old friend if he
had any thoughts on how someone might go about uncovering the identity of the
assassin.
тАЬAnyone with any sense would keep well clear,тАЭ Willy said. тАЬHeтАЩd keep his nose clean,
heтАЩd keep his stick in line, and heтАЩd wait for the specialists.тАЭ
тАЬWho wonтАЩt be here for a week. A full-scale war could have broken out by then.тАЭ
Willy admitted that I had a point. One of the original intake of guards, a veteran
whoтАЩd served in one of the Navy supply ships during the Quiet War, he had led the
team that put down the trouble in the library. Three prisoners had died and eighteen
had been badly injuredтАФone had gouged out the eyes of another with her
thumbsтАФand the incident had left him subdued and thoughtful. After studying me for
a few moments, he said, тАЬIf it was me, I wouldnтАЩt touch the files. I hear the warden is
compiling a list of people who are poking around, looking for clues and so forth. He
tolerates their nonsense because he desperately wants to put an end to the trouble as
soon as he can, and heтАЩll be pretty damn happy if some hack does happen to uncover
the assassin. But it isnтАЩt likely, and when this thing is over you can bet heтАЩs going to
come down hard on all those amateur sleuths. And itтАЩs possible the assassin is keeping
tabs on the files too. Anyone who comes close to finding him could be in for a bad
surprise. No, my brother, screwing around in the files is only going to get you into
trouble.тАЭ
I knew then that Willy had a shrewd idea of what I was about. I also knew that the
warden was the least of my worries. I said, as lightly as I could, тАЬSo what would you
do?тАЭ
Willy didnтАЩt answer straight away, but instead refilled his bulb from the jar of iced
tea. We were sitting on the porch of his little shack, at the edge of a setback near the
top of the cityтАЩs shaft. Banana plants and tree ferns screened it from its neighbors; the
vertical forest dropped away on either side. WillyтАЩs champion cricket, a splendid white