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

popular out here. Most of the spacers sitting in this bar are the children or
grandchildren of the losers.

тАЬThat was a hundred years ago,тАЭ I say.

тАЬSo you do know the wars.тАЭ Her shoulders rise up and down in a small
sigh. She apparently expected to tell me about them.

тАЬYouтАЩre awfully young to be the daughter of a supreme commander
from those days.тАЭ I purposely donтАЩt say the warsтАЩ name. ItтАЩs better not to rile
up the other patrons.

She nods. тАЬIтАЩm a post-loss baby.тАЭ

It takes me a minute to understand her. At first I thought she meant
post-loss of the Colonnade Wars, but then I realize that anyone titled
supreme commander in that war had been on the winning side. So she
meant loss of something else.

тАЬHeтАЩs missing?тАЭ I ask before I can stop myself.

тАЬHe has been for my entire life,тАЭ she says.

тАЬWas he missing before you were born?тАЭ

She takes a deep breath, as if sheтАЩs considering whether or not she
should tell me. Her caution piques my curiosity. For the first time, IтАЩm
interested in what sheтАЩs saying.

тАЬFor fifty years,тАЭ she says quietly.

тАЬFifty standard years?тАЭ I ask.

She nods. If IтАЩm guessing her age right, and if sheтАЩs not lying, then
her father went missing before the peace treaties were signed.

тАЬWas he missing in action?тАЭ I ask.

She shakes her head.

тАЬA prisoner of war?тАЭ Our sideтАФwell, the side that populates this part
of space, which is only mine by defaultтАФdidnтАЩt give the prisoners back
even though that was one of the terms of the treaty.

тАЬThatтАЩs what we thought,тАЭ she says.

The тАЬweтАЭ is new. I wonder if it means she and her family or she and
someone else.

тАЬBut?тАЭ I ask.