"Dan Simmons - The rise of Endymion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Simmons Dan)

For the second time that morning, de Soya corrected himself -- it was Admiral Marget Wu now, the
pips on her collar just visible in the red light. "Father Captain de Soya?" said the Admiral. The
Jesuit slowly shook his head. It was only 0730 hours on this twenty-three-hour world, but already
he felt tired.
"Just Father de Soya," he said.
"Father Captain de Soya," repeated Admiral Wu, and this time there was no question in her
voice. "You are hereby recalled to active service. You will take ten minutes to gather your
belongings and then come with me. The recall is effective now."
Federico de Soya sighed and closed his eyes. He felt like crying. Please, dear Lord, let this
cup passeth from me. When he opened his eyes, the chalice was still on the altar and Admiral
Marget Wu was still waiting.
"Yes," he said softly, and slowly, carefully, he began removing his sacred vestments.

On the third day after the death and entombment of Pope Julius XIV, there was movement in his
resurrection cr├йche. The slender umbilicals and subtle machine probes slid back and out of sight.
The corpse on the slab at first lay inanimate except for the rise and fall of a bare chest, then
visibly twitched, then moaned, and -- after many long minutes -- raised itself to one elbow, and
eventually sat up, the richly embroidered silk and linen shroud sliding around the naked man's
waist.
For several minutes the man sat on the edge of the marble slab, his head in his shaking hands.
Then he looked up as a secret panel in the resurrection chapel wall slid back with less than a
hiss. A cardinal in formal red moved across the dimly lit space with a rustle of silk and a rattle
of beads. Next to him walked a tall, handsome man with gray hair and gray eyes. This man was
dressed in a simple but elegant one-piece suit of gray flannel.
Three steps behind the Cardinal and the man in gray came two Swiss Guard troopers in medieval
orange and black. They carried no weapons.
The naked man on the slab blinked as if his eyes were unaccustomed to even the muted light in
the dim chapel. Finally the eyes focused.
"Lourdusamy," said the resurrected man. "Father Dur├й," said Cardinal Lourdusamy.
He was carrying an oversized silver chalice.
The naked man moved his mouth and tongue as if he had awakened with a vile taste in his mouth.
He was an older man with a thin, ascetic face, sad eyes, and old scars across his newly
resurrected body. On his chest, two cruciforms glowed red and tumescent. "What year is it?" he
asked at last.
"The Year of Our Lord 3131," said the Cardinal, still standing next to the seated man.
Father Paul Dur├й closed his eyes.
"Fifty-seven years after my last resurrection. Two hundred and seventy-nine years since the
Fall of the Farcasters." He opened his eyes and looked at the Cardinal. "Two hundred and seventy
years since you poisoned me, killing Pope Teilhard the First."
Cardinal Lourdusamy rumbled a laugh. "You recover quickly from resurrection disorientation if
you can do your arithmetic so well."
Father Dur├й moved his gaze from the Cardinal to the tall man in gray. "Albedo. You come to
witness? Or do you have to give courage to your tame Judas?"


file:///F|/rah/Dan%20Simmons/Simmons,%20Dan%20-%2004%20-%20The%20Rise%20of%20Endymion.txt (9 of 319) [1/15/03 6:08:23 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/Dan%20Simmons/Simmons,%20Dan%20-%2004%20-%20The%20Rise%20of%20Endymion.txt

The tall man said nothing. Cardinal Lourdusamy's already thin lips tightened to the point of
disappearance between florid jowls. "Do you have anything else to say before you return to hell,