"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 01 - The Winds of Gath" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

She was talking, thought Seena, as if to the next Matriarch.
***

The face was a mask of pain, the eyes enormous, the mouth a
lipless hole of silent pain. Sweat ran down the deep-graven lines
in the tormented face. She could almost smell the rank odor from
the masculine body.

"He was conditioned," said Dyne quietly at her side. "In order
to overcome the instilled death-directive we had to bypass the
nervous system to the heart." His arm was a shadow against the
screen, his finger tapping softly on the glass as he pointed to
where thick tubes ran from the chest to a squat machine. "The
conflict caused a revival of the birth trauma. He wants to die and
cannot and so feels psychological pain."

"Must I watch this?"
 "It is the Matriarch's order." He did not look at her. In the
light from the screen his face was a kaleidoscope of color. "It is
important that you understand that you were the target of this
assassin."

"Why?"

"That, My Lady, is not for me, to say." He stepped back as the
scene diminished, showing the interior of the interrogation
laboratory of the palace. "I predicted that there was an
eighty-two per cent probability of such an attempt being made.
Watch was kept as I advised and the man was captured. His
story was obviously false. Warned of what to expect, the guards
prevented his self-murder. Precautions were taken before his
interrogation. He admitted that you were his target."

"I don't believe it!" She was shaken by the sight, by the
reminder of what went on behind the outwardly innocent facade
of rule. "Is this some kind of trick?"

"For what purpose, My Lady?" He waited courteously for her
reply and, when none came, reached out and touched a control.
The scene blurred, expanded to show the tormented face, the
lipless, gaping mouth. This time there was sound, a horrible rasp
of breath, a whimpering threnody, a name. Her name.

"Enough!"

The face diminished, the sound died, the screen went blank. A
curtain rustled and light poured into the room. Dyne turned
from the window.

"It proved impossible to elicit the name of his employer and it