"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - StarShield Book 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

at the edge of the ravine. Apparently, Oscan thought, I am not the only one who turns to the falls for
reflection.
тАЬWhat about the original packets that were sent,тАЭ she mused aloud. тАЬPerhaps there was some
confusion in the reports that went up to the citadel.тАЭ
тАЬNo,тАЭ Oscan responded at once, тАЬI checked that first: the message packets that were sent to the
citadel were the ones we filed. Someone is changing our packets . . .тАЭ
тАЬOr someone is reflecting them wrong. ThereтАЩs got to be a mistake in here somewhere. Have
you run any of this by Librae Neskat?тАЭ
тАЬNo. SheтАЩs . . . well, sheтАЩs not in at the moment,тАЭ Oscan sighed, turning back toward the parapet
and nodded his head slightly towards the chasm beneath them.
TericaтАЩs smile had a wicket edge. тАЬReally? So then old rockjaw is back, eh? Well, I suppose it
can wait until sheтАЩs quite finished with him тАФ heavens know that she has little else to look forward to.
Oddly fortunate that he should arrive just after the EтАЩtoris was called away.тАЭ
тАЬI donтАЩt think it fortunate at all.тАЭ Oscan became even more serious than he previously was. тАЬI
think someone is deliberately trying to undermine our position here.тАЭ
TericaтАЩs laugh seemed to cut about four inches off the young manтАЩs height. тАЬI donтАЩt think so,
Oscan. WeтАЩre a minor sifting outpost for a galactic information agency which barely knows that we
exist. We are, in short, legends in our own minds only. Besides, you should never ascribe to malice that
which can be attributed to complete stupidity. Someone, somewhere has been using beans for brains is
all thatтАЩs wrong. ItтАЩs probably up to us to figure out where.тАЭ
Oscan watched the tall woman turn smugly from the low wall and saunter back into the vast
cathedral hall.
тАЬBesides,тАЭ she said as she retreated into the cool shadow, тАЬwhat could be so important about
messed up reports?тАЭ

*****

The monastery had fallen into decay before the Omnet established itself there, being of that
perfect age where the structure was too old to be considered useful and yet too young to be thought of
as a local treasure. It had, to the DтАЩRakanians who largely inhabited the large collective cities located
on the western plains, a quaint old building which had outlived its usefulness тАФ a place too far away
for an afternoon picnic. So it had been cheerfully bartered away to the Omnet and its functionaries; the
DтАЩRakanians secretly grateful that they had been relieved of the expense of keeping the old building in
any kind of reasonable shape. Perhaps, in some distant, future years, the great edifice with its vaulting
buttresses arching gracefully over the magnificent falls and its spiral formed minarets reaching grace-
fully into the clouds would be reclaimed by the DтАЩRakan inhabitants as a treasure of their culture and

┬й Copyright 1997 by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman / All Rights Reserved. Page 15
the seat of its ancient mythology. Yet for the time being, it was enough to know that the edifice was still
there тАФ and that it required no more thought by the people than that.
Reaching the monastery was no easy trick for the DтАЩRakanians in the first place. The original
entrance was behind the waterfall itself at the base of the pool but this had succumbed over time to the
ravages of the waterfall itself exacerbated by three separate sieges at its watery gate. There was the
circuitous path which lead up from the pool to the rim of the canyon and thence to one of the six arching
stone bridges which spanned the rivers to the massive spit of stone on which the architectural monu-
ment was constructed. However the roadway from the HтАЩsik, the nearest city to the monastery founded
very near the entrance to Denali canyon some seven kilometers away тАФ was in complete disrepair and
barely passable after nearly a half century of neglect by any but the most determined wheeled vehicles.
Time and indifference had secured the monastery quite efficiently.
The monastery itself was a magnificent structure, its foundation mushrooming out from the