"Elizabeth Moon - Serrano 3 - Winning Colors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

running things with the same bureaucratsтАФexcept for poor Piercy. I don't myself think it was Piercy's fault,
but everyone's afraid he was in it with Lorenza."
Surprising tolerance from someone who had been Lorenza's helpless victim, for someone planning to sue her
family . . . family that had, however ineptly, tried to protect her interests. This was no time to argue, though.
Heris looked away, and spotted another bit of scrap from the renovation.
"I don't hate Piercy," Cecelia said. "I don't even hate Lorenza, although if she stood in front of me I would kill
her without a second thought, as I would kill anyone that vile. I do hate to think of her running around loose
somewhere."
"I don't think she is," Heris said, glad to change the subject from the yacht. "A few of my crewтАФ" Oblo,
Meharry, Petris, and Sirkin, though she didn't intend to mention names where anyone might have left a
sensor. "тАФhad a bone to pick with the individual who gave the orders that led to Yrilan's death. The . . . er . .
. remaining biological contaminants were salted into her quarters. In the ensuing investigation, it was
discovered that she had a very efficient lethal chamber built into her counseling boothsтАФ"
"I didn't hear about thisтАФ"
"Station Security didn't allow it to be newsed. They thought it would cause panic, and they were probably
right. Just the discovery of that many illicit biologicals could panic Station dwellers. Anyway, they also found
items the lady could not account for, which apparently match with jewels known to the insurance databases
as Lorenza's."
"And you found out becauseтАФ?"
"I found out because I have the best damn datatech in or out of Fleet, milady, and that's all I'll say here and
now."
"Ah. Then suppose you come to my suiteтАФif you still consider it my suiteтАФand we'll decide where your ship
is headed, and whether I want to tag along."
Cecelia's furniture had been reinstalled, and they settled into her study. Cecelia looked around nodding. "I do
like the effect of that striped brocade with the green carpet," she said finally. "Although I'm not sure about the
solarium yet."
"I thought you were going to restock it with miniatures," Heris said.
"I wasтАФbut I keep thinking that I could go back to ridingтАФ" She meant competition, Heris understood, just as
she herself would have meant "the Fleet" if she'd said "return to space."
"I like the ferns," Heris said, watching the miniature waterfall in the solarium; she preferred falling water to any
sort of fake wildlife.
"One thing I will insist on, if you're to have me for a passenger, is a crew no more than half ex-military."
Cecelia leaned back in her chair, with an expression that made it clear she meant what she'd said.
Heris bit back the first thing she could have said, took a deep breath, and asked, "Why?" Skoterin, probably,
but surely Cecelia ought to realize that Skoterin had been more than balanced by that crew of civilian
layabouts and incompetents she'd had before. This didn't surprise her, but she'd hoped Cecelia would be less
blunt about it.
"Not just Skoterin," Cecelia said, as if she'd read Heris's mind. "I know you can argue that my original civilian
crew was just as full of lethal mistakes. Of course not all ex-military are crooks or traitors, nor are all civilians
honest and hardworking. But what bothered me was your inability to see past the distinction yourself. You
had had superb performance from that girl Sirkin all through the earlier trouble; you had been so happy with
her. And you were willing to believe that she went bad when even I, isolated as I then was, could spot
sabotage."
Heris nodded slowly. "You're right; I did make a mistakeтАФ"
"Not a mistake, my dear: a whole series of them. You misjudged her not once but repeatedly. That's my
point. You have a pattern, understandable but indefensible, of believing that the military is more loyal, more
honorable, than most civilians. You even told me that Sirkin was 'as good as Fleet' more than once. And your
inability to see past that pattern nearly got us all killed." She grinned, as if to take the sting out of it. It didn't
work. "I'm doing this for your own good, HerisтАФas one of my early riding instructors used to say when
making us post without stirrups by the hour. You have chosen to live in a civilian world; you must learn how to