"David Weber - Worlds of Honor 4 - Service of the Sword" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

thought of avoiding a few of Mr. Lawler's exhaustiveтАФand largely pointlessтАФanalysis sessions.
"I'm certain that Mr. Cayen would be happy to make a transcript for you," Lieutenant
Dunsinane said so confidently that Michael had a sneaking suspicion that she had already
arranged for this.
In fact, for the first time Michael had the feeling the ATO was working with him rather than
against him, and he was determined not to be a disappointment.
***
One of Intransigent's pinnaces took them down to a major Masadan spaceport first thing in
the morning. Intransigent was not being permitted a close parking orbit. Indeed, she was being
kept so far from the planet proper that Michael wondered if the Masadans were nervous about the
possibility of attack.
I guess, he thought, that a planet that's made a career out of attacking its closest neighbor
would be nervous about getting similar treatment from its tougher neighbors. Maybe not, though.
The Faithful really do seem to believe that God is on their side and nothing else makes much of a
difference. Maybe they just figure they're keeping us out of sensor range.
He smiled a bit at this last thought. If that were indeed the case, then the Faithful must not
realize how sophisticated Intransigent's sensors were. They were more than capable enough to
insure that everything going on in the immediate area was available to her crew. Only a
sufficiently large massтАФlike the planet itselfтАФwould keep something hidden.
The pinnace came down at what Michael knew was the largest and most modern facility of its
type on Masada. Numerous elements in its design and construction showed the concentration the
Faithful had dedicated toward building their fleet. He knew from his briefings that their navy
swallowed a staggeringly large amount of their gross planetary product. Despite all of this, to
Manticoran eyes, the facility was rather primitive.
Nothing he saw at the spaceport prepared him for the City of God itself. The number of
people on foot was staggering. Men and women alike were bundled against the harsh weather,
walking with bent heads and resigned postures against a biting wind.
Vehicle traffic was minimal and seemed restricted to transport trucks. Indeed, their guide did
not take them to a private vehicle, but instead directed them toward a stair leading to a dimly lit,
rather forbidding tunnel.
"The Faithful," John Hill said in a neutral tour guide's tone, "do their best to prosper without
undue technological interference. This means that even their most important men do not keep
private vehicles in a city. Everyone uses mass transport."
 "Right," said Lawler. "Forgot that for a moment."
When they had descended into the mass transit tunnels, Michael quickly realized that
although all the Faithful might travel on the same rails, the accommodations were not equal.
Women, clad from head to foot in all enveloping robes, their faces veiled so that only their
modestly downcast eyes were visible at all, were further sequestered in private carriages. These,
Michael saw, had very few seats. He supposed it was some sort of mortification for the flesh.
Women traveling with children were permitted seats so that they might hold their children
safely strapped on their laps. Carriages for men were always equipped with seats. This,
apparently, was to make it possible for them to read or work, for Michael spotted few heads that
were not bent attentively over some text or other.
An idle mind is the devil's playground, he thought, swallowing a wry grin lest their humorless
guide think he was mocking the train system. Isn't there a saying like that?
He noticed that not all the carriages were equipped with equal degrees of luxury. The
majority seemed to be furnished with simple benches of shaped plastic crowded tightly together,
an aisle left down the middle. Some carriages, however, had padded seating, spaced further apart
and aligned front to back. The carriage into which their guide waved them not only had padded
seats, but curtained windows, and better lighting.