"Stephen Mohan Jr. - Battletech - Echoes of Disgrace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mohan Jr Stephen)

The girl shrugged and said nothing further. She wasnтАЩt really a lit-
tle girl, she was somewhere between twelve and fourteen, though
sheтАЩd never volunteered her age and heтАЩd never asked. She was
pretty in the way that only youth can be, shoulder-length blond
hair, hazel eyes, just a girl, but starting to show the shape of the
woman sheтАЩd become. Ukawa could never remember what she
called herself: Turner or Tucker or Tanner or some other gaijin
name.
The scrape of stone against stone jerked UkawaтАЩs attention to-
ward the cell door. A woman stepped inside, a woman Ukawa had
never seen before. She was lovely, skin the color of cream set off
by green eyes and flaming red hair. She was dressed entirely in
black, with no insignia to offer a clue as to who she might be or
what she might want.
And she was young.
Ukawa wasnтАЩt sure exactly how long heтАЩd spent in The House of
the Absent Sun, twenty years or maybe thirty. At first, heтАЩd tried
to keep track of each day by lightly scratching marks in his cell
wall, but the guards beat him for it. Counting days provided a sour
kind of hope and Ukawa had come to realize that hope was the
one thing that would never be permitted here. So he didnтАЩt know
precisely how long heтАЩd been imprisoned, but he did know it had
been many, many years.
So many that this improbably beautiful woman mustтАЩve been a
child when Ukawa had committed the terrible act that had led to
his disgrace.
The woman raised an eyebrow. тАЬRough morning?тАЭ
Ukawa blinked and then remembered heтАЩd just been screaming.
тАЬIie,тАЭ he said and then stopped abruptly because he wasnтАЩt sure
how to address her.
The girl looked up, but said nothing.
тАЬI trust your accommodations are comfortable,тАЭ said the woman,
тАЬno complaints?тАЭ
Ukawa blinked again, wondering if this woman was real.
Wondering if his endless captivity had finally driven him mad.
тАЬWhat do you want?тАЭ Ukawa asked evenly.
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тАЬIтАЩve come to offer you a glorious thing Tai-i Ukawa. The chance
to serve the Combine again.тАЭ
The little girl frowned.
тАЬI am disgraced,тАЭ said Ukawa, skepticism shading his voice.
тАЬEven disgrace may be washed away if you have the will to serve
your Coordinator.тАЭ
UkawaтАЩs throat tightened with emotion. To be made whole again.
In all the years heтАЩd been in The House of the Absent Sun heтАЩd
never for one second stopped dreaming of this moment, even
though heтАЩd never for one second believed it would ever really
come. тАЬWhat do you want me to do?тАЭ he croaked.