"Sheri S. Tepper - After Long Silence" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

why you couldn't do concert versions, Tasmin. Your voice is every bit as good as his. He started as a
Tripsinger, too, you know."

He let the implications of this pass. It wasn't the first time she had implied that his profession was not
very important, something that anyone could do if they were foolish enough to want to.Mere Trip-singer
was in her tone if not in her words, betraying an ignorance shared by a significant part of the lay
population on Jubal. She was wrong about Lim, though. He hadn't been a Tripsinger, merl or otherwise.

Lim Terr├йe.

"I know him," he said, his voice sounding tight and unnatural. "He's my brother."

"Oh, don't make jokes," she said, the petulant expression back on her face. For a moment she had
forgotten her recent neglect. "That's a weird thing to say, Tasmin."

"I said he is my brother. He is. My older brother. His real name is Lim Ferrence. He left Deepsoil Five
about fifteen years ago."

"That's just when I got here! He was a Tripsingerhere?"

Not really, he wanted to say. "You were only a schoolchild when he left. And yes, he did some trips out
of here."

"Did he really do the Enigma? Everyone says he did the Enigma." She was suddenly eager, glowing.

It was hard to keep the resentment out of his voice. "Celcy, I don't know who 'everyone' is. Of course
Lim didn't sing the Enigma. No one has ever got by the Enigma alive."

She cocked her head, considering this. "Oh, people don't always tell the truth about things. Tripsingers
are jealous of each other. Maybe he went with just a small group and got through, but it was never
recorded or anything."

He made a chopping, thrusting-away gesture that she hated, not realizing he had done it until he saw her
face. "Lim Terr├йe did not do the Enigma trip. So far as I remember he led two caravans east through the
Minor Mysteries, one out to Half Moon and back, and one through the Creeping Desert to Splash One
on the Deepsoil Coast and that was it. He didn't come back from that one."

"Four trips?" She gave him a skeptical look, making a mocking mouth. "Four trips? Come on, Tasmin.
Sibling rivalry, I'll bet. You're jealous of him!" Then she hastily tried to undo some of the anger he realized
he had let show in his face. "Not that I can blame you. He's so good looking. I'll bet the girls mobbed
him."

Not really, he wanted to say again. TheyтАФmost of them, at least the ones his own ageтАФknew him for
what he was, a man who тАж better not think about that. He wasn't even sure that it was true anymore.
Dad had screamed and hammered his fist, calling Lim filthy, depraved. Was that it? Depraved?
Something like that, but that was after Lim had gone. Tasmin had only been sixteen, seventeen when Lim
left. Lim had been five years older. Memory didn't always cleave to the truth, particularly after someone
had gone. Perhaps none of what he thought he remembered had really happened.

"I don't remember," he equivocated. "I was just a kid, just getting out of basic school. But if you want to