"E. E. Doc Smith - D'Alembert 10 - Revolt of the Galaxy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

that he had to get me out of the way, and when that didn't make him feel any better he got nastier
and more cruel, hoping that more and more power would fill the vacuum in his soul. But no amount
of power can do that; a soul has to be healed from the inside, not from the outside."
Pias sighed. "Oh hell, I'm no psychologist. I don't know if that's what's wrong with him or not.
There's something dreadfully sick within him, I saw that the last time I was home - but what
caused it, when it began, and what can be done about it... I just don't know."
"He has to be stopped," Beti said with gritty determination. "That's why I came to find you.
You've always been able to stand up to him, all the time I was growing up. You're the only person
he's really afraid of, you're the only one who could take control away from him. Legally, as
oldest son...."


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"Legally I'm not the oldest son," Pias said bitterly.
"Legally, according to the kriss, I'm nobody. I don't exist. Nobody on Newforest will have
anything to do with me."
"A lot of people are beginning to realize they made a mistake," Beti said. "They want you to come
back and put Tas in his place. They want you as the next duke. They're even making up songs about
you, about the wandering son who'll come back one day and save Newforest from tyranny."
Pias turned his face away. "It's not that easy, Beti. I've made a new life for myself here. The
reasons I had for leaving Newforest, the things I couldn't explain to the kriss, are still there
and even now I can't tell you about them. I have responsibilities to something far greater than
the welfare of a single world. I don't know if I'll ever be able to return. I don't know if I'll
want to. I had to turn off so much of myself to keep it from hurting. To bring it back now...." He
shivered at the thought.
"I understand," Beti said, her voice like a little girl's. "We turned our backs on you and cast
you out. We have no right to ask you for favors now."
She sighed. "I guess I'm in the same boat now. I'll have to change my name and find somewhere safe
to live."
This jolted Pias out of his own unhappy thoughts. "Huh? Why?" He turned to face her again.
"I can't go back home, not after this. You were my one hope, and now that's gone."
Something inside Pias went cold and brittle. "You mean it was Tas who tried to kill you? His own
sister?"
"He keeps the whole family under lock and key; he's afraid we'll challenge him and get people to
back us. We're not in chains, but we've got some of his 'escorts' wherever we go to make sure we
don't do anything wrong. Old Yuri helped me escape in a wagonload of mulaska melons. I had barely
enough money to book passage on a couple of ships, first to Belange, then to Wallach, and finally
I caught the freighter coming here, hoping to find you. I don't know how he tracked me down, but
those must have been some of his men who ... who ....
She broke into fresh tears, and Pias held her tightly once more. But as his hands tenderly
caressed her shoulders his fact hardened into an expression of grim determination. As Beti's
sobbing subsided once more, he whispered, "I can't let him get away with that. I can't let him do
it - not to you, not to them, though God knows they've deserved it."
He pushed Beti away slightly so he could look into her face. "I have the Empire on one side and
you and the family and Newforest on the other. But I can't sit by and let my family be murdered by
my power-mad brother. That's not in anyone's interest, not even the Empress's."
He sighed.
Then he moved apart from her, and his tone was all business. "Tell me what's happened since I