"Sheri S. Tepper - Shadow's End" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

The Procurator assented. "Years later a sensation sniffer for one of the newslinks did a so-called
biography of TospiaтАФunauthorized, need I sayтАФin which he alleged that Bernesohn Famber could not
have fathered the twins. Tospia threw a memorable and widely publicized tantrum and sued the sniffer for
misprision of media freedom, asserting that Bernesohn had been living on Dinadh and that she had visited
him there."

The Procurator set down his cup and went on:

"Enormous consternation, as you might imagine! Alliance officers were sent to Dinadh immediately to
debrief Bernesohn about the Ularians."

"And?"

He shrugged, mouth downturned. "And the Dinadh planetary authorities turned them all away, saying
that Bernesohn had bought a hundred-year privacy lease, that even though he was no longer at his
leasehold, his lease was still in effect and no one could be admitted but family members, thank you very
much. His 'family members' were notably uncooperative, and since our only reason for questioning
Bernesohn was the Ularian threat, which was seemingly over, we couldn't demonstrate compelling need.
In the absence of compelling need, we had no authority to invade a member planet, and that's what it
would have taken."

He nodded to himself, then resumed in a thoughtful voice: "Of course, we drew what inferences we
could. We assumed Bernesohn had gone there because he expected to find something on Dinadh, but if
he'd come up with anything useful, he hadn't told Prime about it."

"You said he was no longer at his leasehold?"

He sighed, turning his cup in his hands. "All Dinadh said about the matter was that they 'had welcomed
him as an outlander ghost.' "

"Which means?"

"We presume it means he died. And there the matter has rested until now тАж " His voice trailed off
disconsolately.

"But?"

"But, now they're back."

Lutha stared at him, disbelieving. "The Ularians?"

He nodded, swallowed, shredded the finan-skin napkin between his fingers. "Almost a hundred standard
years! Why not fifty years ago? It was then Prime decided it was safe to open up Hermes to colonization
once more. There are three populated worlds and several colonies in there; there are homo-norm teams
on half a dozen other worlds, and survey teams everywhere worthy of survey."
"And?"

"And two of the colonies are gone. Like last time."