"Kerrion Empire - 03 - Earth Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morris Janet E)

into which her homeworld had fallen. And she sought
any trace of guilt there, for she was sure he felt none
over the fact that his mother and half brother had con-
spired to murder Shebat's instructor in the arts of pilo-
tryЧher "master," David Spry; the first thing she had
done when he had come striding into her cave all Kerrion
and arrogant was tell him that cruisers' intelligence ac-
cused his mother of Spry's murder, and he had betrayed
no surprise. If what she feared was so, and he had
known, or even suspected, she could never, ever forgive
himЧnever lie with him again. And she would have to
guess eternally at the truth of it, for Chaeron was past-
master of duplicity, and canny enough to know how she
must feel. As man and wife, they had never been success-
ful, she told herself; what kept them at the pretense of it
was the simple fact that both of them were constitu-
tionally incapable of admitting defeat in any matter what-
soever, though she had been told by pilots, often enough,
that success in a fleshly union was impossble for one who
had made the cruiser/pilot bond his own.

"And what, now, shall I give you in return?" he asked,
to break the awkward silence come between two who had
given much for one another, on principle, yet on princi-
ple could not trust each other. "Will you come up to the
Stump and be a wife to me? Or to New Chaeronea, the
test-city I am building in the north to dazzle the locals?
Would you like it there, on Mount Defiance? I will have
a temple made for you, get you a tripod. . . . You might
become a renowned sybil. ..."

"I am a renowned sybil," retorted Shebat, shaking her
head so that he saw a swatch of freshly shown curls swing

6

JANET MORRIS

against her cheek. "You will find that out soon enough, if
you stay in Bolen's town. As for what I wantЧgive me a
hundred dream dancers; there are that many in prison at
space-end. Bring them to me and I will create a dream
dance which will predict and ensure that you can turn
Earth into a paradise. But no less: it will take that many
to secure Earth for us."

Chaeron let out an explosive breath. "It is nice to hear
you say 'us.' Though you have sorely wounded me with
this arbitrational attitude of yours, you shall have your
dream dancers, to do with as you choose." As he spoke,