"Walter Jon Williams - City on Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

vital than a verbal tour of the palace.
The voice trails off as he comes within arm's reach. There is a touch of
caution in his fierce glance, a sense again of something withheld. A
decision, perhaps. Or judgment. Or both.
"May I ask why you are here?" he says.
Aiah's heart is a trip-hammer in her throat. Mistake, she thinks, mistake.
"To work, I suppose," she says.
He smiles, and Aiah concludes it's the right answer. A sudden wave of relief
makes her dizzy.
He opens his arms and folds her in them. His scent swirls through her senses,
and she realizes how much she's missed it.
Absurd to care so much, she thinks. Constantine is a great figure, a part of
something huge, much bigger than even heтАФhe does not belong even to himself,
let alone to her.
Aiah tells herself this, and sternly.
But her lecture has nothing to do with her longings. Her longings are
self-contained, and happy within themselves.
Through the embrace Aiah can feel Constantine's weight shifting slightly, a
sign of restlessness. He is not a notably patient man. She releases him,
steps back.
Still he watches her, fierce intelligence afire within the gold-flecked brown
eyes. "The police?" he says. "Were they after you?тАЭ
"Yes," she says, then, "No. Maybe." She shrugs. "They knew I was a part of
it somehow, but I don't know if they could prove it. They had me under
surveillance.тАЭ
"You got away without trouble?тАЭ
"I got away." She hesitates. "I had some help. I think. It was easier than
I expected.тАЭ
"What of your young man? Gil?тАЭ
She straightens her shoulders, steels herself against the threat of sorrow.
"Over," she says.
"And your job at the Plasm Authority?тАЭ
"I wired them and told them I was taking time off." She shrugs. "I don't know
why I didn't resign outright.тАЭ
There is amusement in his glance. "You are cautious, Miss Aiah. Wise of you,
not to quit until you discover if you have a new job waiting.тАЭ
She looks at him. "And do I?тАЭ
"I think I have one that will suit your talents." He puts his hands in his
jacket pockets and begins to prowl around the table, his restless movement an
accompaniment to the uneasy movement of his thought.
"You know that the last government was worse than bad," he says. "They were
corrupt beyond . . . beyond reason." He waves a big hand. "Even granted
that they were thieves, that they wanted only enrichment and perquisites . .
. the scope of larceny that they permitted, against their own metropolis, was
irrational. The amount of plasm stolen is staggering. It constituted a vast
plundering of their own power, a threat to the security of their own state of
which they seemed unaware. Well." He plants a fist on the table and looks at
Aiah with a defiant glare. "Well, / am not so blind, not so unaware. The
theft of this most singular public resource must stop. But what force do I
have to enforce any new edictsтАФor even the old ones?тАЭ