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

I want to know how much the Room formed me, the embittered wreck
diver, the woman who once believed that preserving the past was more
important than any money that could be made from it.

The woman who believedтАФand maybe still doesтАФthat the past holds
secrets, secrets which, if understood, can teach us more about ourselves
than any science can.

I do not tell my father any of this. I let him believe IтАЩm doing a job. I
pretend to be interested in all that he tells me.

And I pretend to be surprised when he tells me he wants to join me.

He says he wants to see the Room one last time.

It takes months to put a team together. The people who want to go to
the Room are not experienced divers, or experienced space travelers for
that matter. The people who do not want to go are the ones I need.

I am able to buy some of themтАФmoney goes a long way with people
who live on the edgeтАФbut I cannot buy all. Most importantly, I cannot buy
Karl, who was with me on the Dignity Vessel job.

At first, he wonтАЩt even talk to me. But eventually, his curiosity gets the
better of him. He agrees to meet me in the old spacersтАЩ bar in Longbow
Station.

I am at the station alone. I told my father that I would not be able to
recruit when he was around. He has a reputation for being difficult and for
thinking heтАЩs in charge. I actually got him to sign legal documents attesting
to the fact that he would not run anything on board my ship or do anything to
command (or jeopardize) my expedition.

I am using three factors in picking my team: I want people who are
creativeтАФboth mechanically and intellectually; I want people who have
dived the most dangerous wrecks in the sector; and I want people who are
honest.

Finding the last two is relatively easyтАФdivers have to be honest or
they donтАЩt survive. The survivors are usually the ones who have been on the
most dangerous missions.

But most divers leave the creativity to the person in charge of the
mission. Since, in the past, that was me, I never had the opportunity to work
with other dive team leaders.
 Except Karl.

He started his business after I quit mine. He took over my routes, and
I didnтАЩt interfere with him because I believed I would never wreck dive
again.