"Karen Traviss - Wess'Har 06 - Judge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Traviss Karen)

SheтАЩd known from the start that was how the bloody thing worked. It was a simultaneous curse and
blessing.

Now, for the first time, she really felt it.

****

Eqbas Vorhi, office of Varguti Sho, senior matriarch of Surang: 2401 in the calendar of the gethes.

тАЬIf you donтАЩt act now,тАЭ said Mohan Rayat, тАЬEsganikan Gai is going to play right into my governmentтАЩs
hands and give humans cтАЩnaatat. SheтАЩs infected. And sheтАЩs on Earth.тАЭ

Varguti Sho, the most senior matriarch of the city-state of Surang, was new to the job. That meant she
might be persuaded more easily than her predecessors, who seemed to think that while it was irregular
for a commander to dose herself with a biohazard and fail to tell her own government, it wasnтАЩt a cause
for alarm. They had done nothing in the intervening years despite his warnings. He had to make them
understand.

Wrong. ItтАЩs everything you want to stamp out. ItтАЩs everything IтАЩve come to fear. ItтАЩs a potential disaster.
DidnтАЩt all this trouble with humans start there?

тАЬCuras Ti trusted Esganikan to treat the parasite as an experiment,тАЭ said Varguti. тАЬAnd what can anyone
do thirty light-years away, even if there was a problem?тАЭ

тАЬDid she ever actually tell Curas Ti what sheтАЩd done?тАЭ

тАЬNo.тАЭ

тАЬExactlyтАФI did. Da Shapakti did. Has she even told her crew? Do you believe me when I say she
infected herself deliberately?тАЭ

тАЬYes. Da Shapakti confirmed it. But motive is irrelevantтАФтАЭ

тАЬActually, Sho Chail, thatтАЩs just not true.тАЭ WessтАЩharтАФboth the Eqbas here and their WessтАЩej
cousinsтАФcared only about outcomes, not motivation. Most of the time that made them seem brutally
hard-line; but sometimes it showed their blind spot about predicting risks. Vastly superior power had
only compounded the trait. тАЬIf Esganikan was keeping it from you, she had a reason. ItтАЩs not how
wessтАЩhar behave. YouтАЩre totally open. You donтАЩt hide things.тАЭ

Varguti was beginning to waver. Rayat could see it. She was cocking her head, the four lobes of her
pupils opening and closing, and then she froze for a couple of seconds. WessтАЩhar always did that when
they were alarmed.
 тАЬWhen we send armies to other worlds, the commander has complete autonomy.тАЭ Varguti sounded as if
she was trying to convince herself. тАЬThe time scales are too long and the distances are too great for any
government to understand the situation she might find herself in. We do not need to know every small
detail of her strategy, and we do not, to use your phrase, second-guess her.тАЭ

Rayat was jolted out of the debate for a moment by the injection of English after so many years of being
immersed in eqbasтАЩu. Home. Earth. IтАЩll never see it again. тАЬBut what if she becomes a problem? What if