"Steve White - The Disinherited" - читать интересную книгу автора (White Steve)

White, Steve - [The Disinherited 01] - The Disinherited




THE DISINHERITED
By Steve White



CHAPTER ONE
Tareil had set, and Norellarn was a city of light. The pedestrian
slidewalks were streams of mercury, the soaring crysteel-and-glass
towers were a blaze of illumination, and, barely visible in the far
distance, this hemisphereтАЩs orbital tower was a string of light rising
impossibly up, up, up into infinity.
Yes, Norellarn seemed constructed of light. And to Varien
hleтАЩMorna, viewing the dazzling cityscape from the balcony of his
private office, it was as insubstantial as the massless photons of that
light, for he knew it was doomed.
The great city in the last days of its greatness, its civilization a
ghost that does not yet know it is dead! Varien shook himself
irritably. And how many more banalities shall we dredge up from
bad historical fiction? He rubbed the tip of his right index finger
across an area of skin on the back of his left hand, activating the
imprint circuits, and consulted the tiny chronometer that glowed to
life. Yes, it was time. He squared his narrow shoulders, turned his
back on the city and strode purposefully inside.


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White, Steve - [The Disinherited 01] - The Disinherited


He paused to look around the familiar office, seeing its architecture
and furnishings with new eyes. It was like a showcase for a tradition
of understated elegance that had had centuries to refine upon
refinementтАж a showcase about to be smashed by a steel truncheon.
Yes, perhaps one could do worse than historical novels as a source
of inspiration just now. History has started happening to this world
of Raehan again, and itтАЩs been so long that weтАЩve forgotten how to
react. Better clich├й than speechlessness.
Enough! He lowered himself into a Taelieu-period recliner and took
a set of wraparound, ear-covering goggles from the small matching
end table beside it. He then attached a few tiny movement sensors to
his clothing at various points on his upper body, put on the headset,
and spoke a short numeric code.
Tarlann and Arduin were already seated at the plain conference
table. Sitting and talking was, of course, about all that the three of
them, located in as many continents, could do; nothing more was