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

required. "Yvonne, why don't you and I take Maurice for a walk through the garden? Really, you
don't bring him over for a visit nearly often enough." Father, daughter, and grandson departed
tactfully, leaving the room to the Bavols.
Silence descended on the room again. Beti Bavol held her little niece on her lap and refused to
meet her brother's gaze. It was left to Pias to break the silence once more.
"They tell me you're in some kind of trouble," he said as he sat down next to her on the couch,
"that there are some people trying to kill you. What's the matter? What's wrong?"
Beti looked suddenly into his face, and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. "Oh Pias,
I've done you such a terrible wrong. We all have. There's no way I can ever say I'm sorry for all
the hurt. I didn't want to do it; I always liked you. But I was only a girl, I couldn't fight
them, I didn't know how to try. It was safer just to go along with the rest, to pretend you
weren't there. I've thought about you a lot in the past years, wondering where you were and what
you were doing. But I could never say anything out loud. ..." Her sobbing became too great for her
to continue. Throwing her arms around her brother's shoulders, she wept, unashamed.
Pias held her gently and didn't try to speak. He had his own eyes closed, trying to purge himself
of the bitterness and pain he felt. Beti wasn't to blame for what had happened to him; as she'd
said; she was only a teenager when the kriss voted to oust him from Newforest society. A young
girl could do nothing against such overwhelming social pressure. His true complaint, he knew, was
against other people, older and more in control of worldly affairs. A large part of him wanted to
tell Beti to go away and not reopen an old wound that had almost healed by now - but a larger part
of his heart and conscience told him he could not turn her away when she was in so much trouble.
When her sobbing finally subsided, Pias asked her, "Has the kriss revoked its decree?"
Beti shook her head sadly. "Not with Tas running it. They wouldn't dare."
"Poppa's still duke, isn't he?" Despite his avowed disinterest, Pias kept watching the newsrolls
for items about Newforest. He'd seen no mention of his father's death - but he was often away on
assignment, and Newforest was a rather unimportant planet. A change in administrations would not
be major news elsewhere in the Galaxy.
"He's hanging on," Beti said, sniffing back the last traces of tears. Though mottle fever was
incurable, it was a lingering disease that could drag on for many years before killing its victim.
"You. know how tough he is."
"But Tas is running the kriss," Pias reiterated.
"Tas is running everything," Beti said. "According to the edict, he's now the oldest child, due to
become duke when Poppa ... goes. Poppa gets weaker and weaker, and it's all he can do to stay
alive. He doesn't have the strength to fight Tas, too. Tas acts like he's already duke - almost
like he's emperor. If you think I'm hard to recognize, you ought to see him. He's a dictator,
telling everyone what to do and think. Anyone who stands up to him gets beaten, sometimes even
killed."
"Has a report been filed with the Service of the Empire? I know the Empress takes a dim view of
subordinates who get too far out of line. She wouldn't tolerate such behavior if she knew about
it."
Beti shook her head. "Nobody dares file a report. Tas seems to know everything that's going on
everywhere on the planet. I don't know how he does it, he can't have that many spies, but he just
knows - and he makes things very rough for people who oppose him."
Pulling her head back slightly she gazed straight into Pias's eyes. "What went wrong with him? I
don't understand. You and he were always my big brothers, people I could run to when I was hurt.
Tas was always full of life, always wanting to play new games with me. He was never like this,
never cruel. It's as though some thing in him, whatever it was that made him human, just turned
off suddenly."
"I know he was always jealous of me because I was the oldest son and Poppa favored me," Pias
mused. "Jealousy can twist even the most decent people into monsters. Perhaps he felt so insecure