"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Room of Lost Souls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

I havenтАЩt, mostly because I never had the chance. But I donтАЩt tell her
that. Instead, I say, тАЬYou spoke to my father.тАЭ

She nods. тАЬHeтАЩs happy to know youтАЩre still alive.тАЭ

IтАЩm not sure IтАЩm happy to know that he is. I prefer to think of myself as
a person without a family, a woman without a past.

тАЬQuite honestly,тАЭ she says, тАЬheтАЩs the one who recommended you for
this job. I first approached him, but he said he was too old.тАЭ

I slide my plate to the edge of the table to hide my face as I do the
calculations. He turns seventy this year, which is not old at all.
 тАЬHe also said you have all the skills I need for this job.тАЭ She hasnтАЩt
touched her food. тАЬHe says he doesnтАЩt.тАЭ

That much is true. HeтАЩs never gone divingтАФat least that I know of. He
captained a ship, but in the old-fashioned wayтАФnot as a hands-on pilot, but
as a planetbound owner, who told others what to do.

We were on some kind of pleasure cruise, I think, when my mother
and I wandered into the Room. Or maybe we were moving from one
system to another.

I honestly donтАЩt know. I donтАЩt remember and I never asked him.

He wasnтАЩt around much anyway. After Mother vanished into that
Room, he dumped me with my maternal grandparents and went in search
of the very thing Riya claims she found: a way to recover people from the
Room of Lost Souls.

тАЬIt makes no sense that he has refused to help you,тАЭ I say as a bus
tray arrives, sends out a small metal arm that sweeps my plate into its
interior, and then floats away. тАЬHeтАЩs always wanted a way into the Room.тАЭ

тАЬHe says the problem is not the way in, but the way out.тАЭ She finally
picks up her fork and picks at her now-cold food.

A chill runs through me. Does my father speak with that kind of
authority because he has sent people in after my mother? Or because heтАЩs
thinking of what happened to us all those years ago?

тАЬAnd yet you claim you have that way out.тАЭ

A serving tray appears with an ice cream glass filled with red and
black berries separated by layers of cream. My coffee steams beside it. My
standing order. I shouldnтАЩt take it, but I do.

тАЬI do have a way out,тАЭ she says.