"Joan D. Vinge, txt v2.0, To Bell the Cat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Joan D)

"Xena." Corouda nudged her. "What's he doing to you, Jary?"

Jary gulped, speechless, and shrugged; not looking at Corouda, not wanting to see his face.

"I was taking some tissue samples. As you can see." Orr picked up a specimen plate, set it down. "My job, and his function. Nothing to do with 'your world,' as you put it."

"Why from his hands?"

"He understands the reason, Warden.... Go outside and wait, Piper. I'll call you when I want you."

Jary moved around the table, pressing his mouth shut against nausea as he looked down at the instrument tray; he slipped past the wardens and escaped, gratefully, into the fresh air.

Corouda watched Jary shuffle away in the evening sunlight, pulled his attention back into the tent.

"If you don't stop interfering with my work, Warden Soong-Hyacin, I'm going to complain to Doctor Etchamendy."

Xena lifted her head. "Fine. That's your privilege. But don't be surprised when she supports us. You know the laws of domain. Thank you, Juah-u...." She turned to go, looked back at him questioningly.

Corouda nodded. "In a minute." He watched Orr treat the specimen plates and begin to clear away the equipment. "What did you mean when you said 'he understands the reason'?"

Orr pushed the empty carrying case with his foot. "I questioned him about the troglodytes, and he told me that he let them loose, out of spite."

"Spite?" Corouda remembered the expression behind Jary's mud-splattered faceplate, at the bottom of the crevice. And Jary had told Orr that the lock had broken, after they had pulled him up.... "Is that how you got him to admit it?" He pointed at the table.

"Of course not" - irritation. Orr wiped the table clean, and wiped off his hands. "I told him that you'd seen him do it."

"I told you I didn't see anything!"

Orr smiled sourly. "Whether you told me the truth or not is of no concern. I simply wanted the truth from him. And I got it."

"You let him think - "

"Does that matter to you?" Orr leaned on the table and studied him with clinical curiosity. "Frankly, I don't see why any of this should matter to you, Warden. After all, you, and Soong-Hyacin, and the other fifteen billion citizens of the Union were the ones who passed judgment on Piper Alvarian Jary. You're the ones who believe his crimes are so heinous that he deserves to be punished without mercy. You sanctioned his becoming my Catspaw - my property, to use as I see fit. Are you telling me now that you think you were wrong?"

Corouda turned and left the tent, and left the question unanswered.

Piper Alvarian Jary sat alone on his rock, as he always did. The evening light threw his shadow at Corouda like an accusing finger; but he did not look up, even when Corouda stood in front of him. Corouda saw that his eyes were shut.

"Jary?"

Jary opened his eyes, looked up, and then down at his hands. Corouda kept his own gaze on Jary's pinched face. "I told Orr that I didn't see what happened. That's all I said. He lied to you."

Jary jerked slightly, and then sighed.

"Do you believe me?"

"Why would you b - bother to lie about it?" Jary raised his head finally. "But why should you b - bother to tell me the truth...." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me."