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

donтАЩt believe she knows all of it.

тАЬIt certainly is for Riya Trekov,тАЭ I say, to cover my own discomfort.
тАЬShe believes her fatherтАЩs soul is trapped in this place, and she believes we
can recover it.тАЭ

тАЬDo you?тАЭ Tamaz asks me.

I think for a momentтАФthe lights, the voices building one upon another,
the clutch of my fatherтАЩs arms as he holds me tight.

тАЬNo,тАЭ I say after a moment, тАЬbut that doesnтАЩt mean we arenтАЩt going to
try.тАЭ

****

The station is bigger than I remember, bigger than my fatherтАЩs
descriptions of it, bigger than anything mentioned in the archives.

It looms ahead of the Business like a small asteroid or a tiny moon.
ItтАЩs gray in the constant twilight of space, the reflection of faraway stars
making it seem brighter than it actually is.

There are no visible lights on the station, nothing that marks it as a
landing site or a outpost or some kind of way station. There are no energy
readings, faint or otherwise.

I fly us toward the station as Roderick, Karl, and the other two
pilotsтАФHurst and BriaтАФmonitor the audio bands, trying to find any sign of
life coming from the place.

The five of us sit shoulder to shoulder as we work the controls. The
cockpit feels crowded, even though itтАЩs built for ten or more. The station
shows up on my viewscreen and in my controls as well as in the portholes
throughout the ship.
 Out of deference to my father, we do not dock on the exterior docking
ring. That was where his large cargo ship dockedтАФit couldnтАЩt go any
deeper into the station itselfтАФand that was where the nightmares that have
haunted the rest of his life began.

Instead, I pick a smaller ring on the upper level, where the habitats
are still intact. From here, it looks as if weтАЩve approached a darkened but
working space station. Reflections in the exterior windows of the station
make it seem as if someone is moving inside.

That startles HurstтАФhe even points it outтАФbut Karl and I have
approached so many wrecks weтАЩre used to the phenomenon.

тАЬItтАЩs just us,тАЭ he says. тАЬWeтАЩre seeing our own reflections.тАЭ