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

Queekan stopped, able for the first time to see past his anger. He looked down at Merinda.
DonтАЩt move, she thought, purposefully allowing her face to go completely neutral toward him. Let him
take his time and heтАЩll come around to whatтАЩs really bothering him. He always does.
Queekan sighed and knelt wearily in the sand before her. тАЬSorry, Rini. I guess IтАЩm just not
myself anymore.тАЭ
Merinda lay slowly back on her elbows. Her voice barely carried over the rumble of the falls
beyond Queekat but her words were distinct, their meaning clear. тАЬYou always knew just who you were
and where you were going. I remember standing in the Golden Court beneath a hallow of stars ...тАЭ
тАЬThat was long ago,тАЭ Queekat muttered.
тАЬ... and you looked up with a hunger far greater than you ever felt for me.тАЭ MerindaтАЩs words
came devoid of compassion or malice тАФ statements whose value stood on their own without the inflec-
tion of the feelings she held against them. тАЬтАШThey will be mine,тАЩ you said.тАЭ
тАЬI meant тАШoursтАЩ,тАЭ he snapped.
тАЬBut you said, тАШmineтАЩ,тАЭ she responded testily. тАЬWithin a week you were gone, Kat. Atis Librae
Shn-dar out of nowhere selected for the great Inquisitas Vestis. One week you were analyzing synopsis
news upstream from a handful of backwater worlds and the next you were off reinventing yourself as
an inquisitor for the Omnet.тАЭ
Queekat looked up sharply. тАЬI didnтАЩt reinvent myself! There was hardly any need to тАФ they did
a fine enough job reinventing me on their own terms. Look, Rini, you have no idea what itтАЩs like. You
have to know so much that is specific to your assignment and your assignment changes so often. They
just pour it right into you, Rini. The Oracles of Nine decide who you have to be on a mission and then
they make you into that person. They partition your brain as if you were a mechanical device just like
them тАФ sift your memories and shuffle your thoughts into convenient storage places to make room for
the information they think you need to get the job done for the Omnet. Then they just pour it into you
through a biolink.тАЭ
Merinda watched him carefully. Somewhere, high overhead, a Stribek cawed as it soared above
the falls.
Queekat sighed, and began sifting the wet sands of the beach through his fingers. тАЬBy the stars,
Rini, three months ago they needed a xenobiologist with surgical skills. I was on the duty list. One
night, I went to bed not knowing that the Kribenthian Sedak even existed and by the time I awoke I

┬й Copyright 1997 by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman / All Rights Reserved. Page 10
could not only describe its anatomy down to the cellular and chemical level but perform surgery on it as
well. For that month I was the greatest of all Sedak physicians. When it was over, I had another assign-
ment. The Nine gave me knowledge of the deep intricacies of the Four Dynasties of the Ruqua. Oh, I
could instantly recount to you the relationships and genealogies of each of the four houses for the last
thousands years тАФ but I no longer knew a Kribenthian SedakтАЩs hand from its ass.тАЭ
Queekat had lapsed into a rather pouty sullenness. Merinda chewed her lower lip. It had be-
come awkward, watching an inquisitor unguarded and vulnerable. Then he looked up at her and smiled
the same confident, knowing self-assured smile that had so blinded her when they first met that she, in
her eternal pessimism, had ascribed to being too cocky and self-important. She couldnтАЩt belief then that
the smile was meant for her alone but she had at last claimed ownership to it and from that time her
loneliness had ended. Despite the robes and the manor and the training, he was still Queekat. She was
sure of it.
тАЬWell, then, who are you today?тАЭ Merinda teased with a gentle edge in her voice. тАЬDoes your
mission require you to become an invisible part of the DтАЩRakan Council of Matriarchs or are you
perhaps something even more exotic?тАЭ
тАЬOh, you are such an innocent,тАЭ he laughed, shaking his head. тАЬI hate to disappoint you, but
today IтАЩm an advanced theorist technician for level twelve synthetic minds.тАЭ
She looked at him with disbelief. тАЬYouтАЩre what?тАЭ