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

is doubtful if he even knew it. There are ways to arrange these
things. But I advised steps to be taken so that those probably
responsible would know of their failureтАФand our knowledge of
their implication."

"By impaling him!"

"Yes, My Lady."
 She shuddered, remembering the tormented face turned
toward the sky, the ugly stains on the polished glass, the empty
gropings of the hands, the aimless movements of the feet. And
the screamsтАФshe could not easily forget the screams.

But she no longer blamed the Matriarch.

The room oppressed her with its too recent memory of pain. It
was a bare, bleak chamber used by the guards in attendance,
empty now but for the cyber and herself. Impulsively she walked
across the floor, through hangings of shimmering crystal,
through an annex piled deep with rugs and to a narrow door
opening on the world outside. She pressed the release and the
panel folded to one side, letting in the tropic heat. She stood
feeling the glare of the sun on her face, looking out to where the
heavy waves of the ocean rolled sluggishly toward the shore.
Some men in a crude boat fought the swell.

A rustle and Dyne was beside her. She pointed to the men,
tiny in the distance.

"What are they doing?"

"Seeking food, My Lady."

She nodded, uninterested in the problems of others, her mind
stained with thoughts of danger and death. Someone had tried
to kill herтАФit was not a comforting thought.

"Why are we here?" She gestured toward the outside world.
"Why the sudden journey from Kund, the transshipping, the
charter?"

"You were considered to be in grave danger, My Lady. And the
engines of our ship were not safe."

"Sabotage?"

"It is possible."

She felt a chill run down her spine. The great houses had
wealth and power and their influence could reach far. In the