"Robert Reed - Sister Alice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reed Robert)

тАЬAnd IтАЩm giving you fair warning. You wonтАЩt tell anyone. Not friends, and not even enemies. This is
Chamberlain business, and what does that mean?тАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs private.тАЭ

тАЬIt belongs to us. Nobody else, Ord.тАЭ

The boy offered a weak, confused nod.

тАЬNo other Family can know that she is here.тАЭ

тАЬWhy not?тАЭ

тАЬBecause thatтАЩs what she wants.тАЭ

тАЬBut why visit us? And why stayтАФ?тАЭ

тАЬWhy not?тАЭ Lyman interrupted. Then his face grew puzzled again. тАЬI honestly donтАЩt know why. Nobody
seems to know where sheтАЩs been. But IтАЩm sure sheтАЩll explain, if itтАЩs important.тАЭ

A Twelve. Among Chamberlains, only five siblings were older than Alice. The rest had died long ago.
And of those surviving five, two were currently bound for Andromeda as part of a cultural exchange. By
contrast, Ord possessed a five-digit designation, as did Lyman and everyone else living here. Ord could
never live long enough or become famous enough for his arrival to stun anyone. тАЬTwenty-Four
Four-Eleven is on his way. Behave, children!тАЭ Ord nearly laughed at the preposterous image. If he lived a
billion yearsтАФa possibility, in theoryтАФand if he did many wondrous things, then yes, he might just
generate the kind of excitement that he felt now. Maybe.

тАЬWe donтАЩt even know where sheтАЩs been,тАЭ Lyman repeated. тАЬWeтАЩve asked and asked, but the walls
wonтАЩt tell us.тАЭ

The famous Alice: She had been born after the Wars, in those first years of the Peace. She was an
explorer and a pioneer at the high art of terraforming, and her techniques in building living worlds were
still the standard, and her name didnтАЩt even need тАЬChamberlainтАЭ attached to it. Alice was famous enough
in her own right.

тАЬNot a hint to anyone. All right, little brother?тАЭ

Ord said, тАЬYes,тАЭ with a soft, disappointed whisper.

Lyman made fists and drummed at his thighs, saying, тАЬI bet itтАЩs nothing. Here and gone in two seconds,
sheтАЩll be.тАЭ

The universal wall changed again, showing a ringed gas giant. World-sized continents built of hyperfoams
floated in its atmosphere, linked together like chains, the winds carrying them with a dancerтАЩs precision.
Where was this place? Terraforming on that scale required time and great wealth, and there probably
werenтАЩt ten thousand worlds like that in the galaxy. Ten thousand was nothing. Shutting his eyes, he knew
that Alice had built it. Lyman had asked the wall to show him her work; and like his brother, Ord could
only marvel at her skills.
Why would she come here?