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

"I want you to feel it," he admitted. "It could be your house. It could be you, and your son. It could be all
humanity."

During our time together, Lutha described his voice, full of a sonorous beauty, like the tolling of a funeral
bell. He was working Fastigat stuff on her, wringing her emotions like a wet towel, making her all drippy.
Leelson had done that from time to time, worked Fastigat stuff on her, though he had done it for their
mutual pleasure.

"Nothing like a romantic moon," she told me. "A little wine, and a silver-tongued Fastigat to make the
worlds move."

"It does not take wine or a Fastigat to move the world," I told her, thinking of my own love.

"I am relieved to hear it," she said then, laughing as she wept. We had then a good deal of reason to
weep.

But even then, during her meeting with the Procurator, she thought all that Fastigat stuff unnecessary. The
memory of Mallia alone wrung her quite enough.

So, she took a deep breath and said to this old, conniving man: "You want me to go to Dinadh, is that
it?"

The Procurator nodded. "We want someone to go, and the only people they will allow are Leelson, his
mother, or you. Leelson's mother has refused to go. Leelson himself, we can't find. That leaves you.
You're already proficient in basic Nantaskan. Dinadh speaks a dialect of Nantaskan. And I'll send a
Fastigat with you."

"Please. No," she cried.

He reached toward her, pleadingly. "Lutha. Please. We'll pick someone who isn't тАж intrusive. Someone
tactful."

She snorted.

"Some Fastigats can be," he said in an offended tone.

"The Dinadhi will allow me a companion?" She sneered. "Someone nonfamily?"

"If he goes as your assistant or servant, yes. You'll need some such to help with your son. You'll have to
take the boy."

She laughed again, this time incredulously. "You're joking, of course." He knew how ridiculous the idea
was. Even the invigilators who had summoned her to this meeting had been aware of the problem Leely
presented. They'd brought a whole cr├иche team with them to take care of Leely while she was away.

He shook his head at her, leaning forward to pat her knee, an avuncular gesture. "Believe me, Lutha, I
wouldn't ask it if it weren't necessary. The Dinadhi won't accept you without the boy."
"You expect me to drag a child across half a dozen sectors to тАж " This child, she said to herself. This
particular child, with his particular problems.