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

Much as I donтАЩt want to.

****

He lives halfway across the sector, on a small planet whose only
inhabited continent counts itself as one of the losers in the Colonnade
Wars.

HeтАЩs lived there for nearly two decadesтАФand itтАЩs a sign of how out of
touch we are that I actually had to look that information up.
 My fatherтАЩs house is a maze of glass, stairs, and steel. From the
outside it seems haphazard, rooms on top of rooms, but from the inside, it
has a wide-open feel, like the best cruise liners, designed not to take you to
a destination but to help you enjoy the journey.

He built his house in the center of a large blue lake, so at night the
water reflects the skies above. If those skies are clear, it seems like he is in
space, traveling from one port to another.

He doesnтАЩt seem surprised to see me. If anything, heтАЩs a little
relieved.

I arrive in the middle of the afternoon and he insists I stay there. I
nearly decline until he shows me the guest room. It is at the very top of the
house, glass on all sides except the part of the floor that covers the room
below. The bed seems to free-float between the blueness of the lake and
the blueness of the sky.

The sunтАФtoo close to this planet for my tastesтАФsends light through
the glass, but environmental controls keep the room cool and comfortable.
My father shows me where those controls are so I can lessen the gravity if I
want.

It takes me a while to realize that my fatherтАЩs house is modeled on the
station that houses the Room of Lost Souls. We meet in the center
roomтАФthe room that would be the Room of Lost Souls if we were on that
stationтАФand he offers me a meal.

I decline. IтАЩm too nervous in his presence to eat anything.

My father is no longer the man I remember, the man who cradled me
when I got out of that Room. That man had been in his late thirties, tall and
strong and powerful. HeтАЩd loved his wife and his daughter, making us the
center of his life.

HeтАЩd commanded ships, built an empire of wealth, and still had time
for us.

He abandoned everything to figure out how to get my mother out of
that place. His businesses, his friends.