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

The business had become a success when my father stopped caring
about the ethics of the cargo he carried. Sometimes he brought food or
agricultural supplies to far-flung outposts. Sometimes he brought weapons
to splinter groups rebelling against various governments.

He didnтАЩt care, so long as he got his payment.

He made so much money, he no longer needed to run the fleet, but
he did. Still, my mother begged him to buy land and he did that too. This
land, kilometers and kilometers of it, the entire lake and the surrounding
greenery.

He promised her they would retire here.

But they were still young, and he loved travel. He commanded the
lead vessel because he owned it, not because he was good at piloting or
even at leadership.

He tells me about the trips, about the deliveries, about the crew. The
ship had a contingent of forty regulars, with two dozen others whom heтАЩd
hired for larger jobs. Sometimes they worked the cargo, sometimes they
repaired the ship. Always they listened to him, whether he was right or not.

But he wasnтАЩt the one who commanded them to the Room of Lost
Souls. That was my mother. She had heard about it, studied it, thought
about it.

She wanted to see it.
 She didnтАЩt believe a place that oldтАФhuman-madeтАФcould exist in this
part of space.

тАЬShe was trying to be a tourist,тАЭ he says now. тАЬTrying to make all this
travel work.тАЭ

But I wonder. Just like I wondered about Trekov. If my mother had
done all the studying, had she been planning a pilgrimage? Because of my
fatherтАЩs business or because of some problem all her own?

I realize, as IтАЩm sitting there, I know even less about her than I know
about my father. I only know what I remember, what her parents told me in
their grief, and what my father is telling me now.

тАЬI took her there,тАЭ he says. тАЬWith no thought, no study. I thought it was
just an ancient relic, a place that we could see in half a day and be gone.тАЭ

тАЬHalf a day,тАЭ I mutter.

He looks at me, clearly startled that I spoke.

тАЬSo she planned to go to the Room?тАЭ