"Walter Jon Williams - Dread Empire's Fall - 01 - The Praxis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Walter John)

And Martinez was definitely the wrong kind. While near-omnipotent on its distant home world of Laredo, the Martinez clan were provincial nobodies to the high-caste Peers whose palaces ornamented the High City of Zanshaa. The fine gradations of rank perceived by the Peers had no status in law, but their weight was felt everywhere in Peer society. MartinezТs birth entitled him to a place in the PeersТ military academy followed by a commission, but that was all.

In six yearsТ service, he had risen to lieutenant. That was as far as his father had come in a dozen years, before Marcus Martinez resigned in frustration and returned to Laredo to devote himself to making money on a grand scale.

His son knew he needed a powerful patron who would advance him in the service hierarchy. And Gareth Martinez thought he had found that patron in Fleet Commander Enderby, who seemed impressed with his abilities and was willing to overlook his obscure home and the wretched provincial accent that, try as he might, heТd been unable to lose.

What do you do when your senior officer announces his intention to commit suicide? Martinez wondered. Try to talk him out of it?

УTarafah is a good officer,Ф Enderby assured. УHeТll look after you.Ф

Tarafah is only a lieutenant captain,Martinez thought. So even if Tarafah decided that he was the most brilliant officer heТd ever metЧand the chances ofthat were not highЧTarafah wouldnТt be in a position to give him a promotion to the next rank. He could only recommend him to a superior, and that superior would be patron to another set of clients whose needs, Martinez knew, would rank greater than his own.

I am hip deep in the shit,he concluded. Unless he could talk the Fleet Commander into changing his mind about annihilating himself.

УMy lord,Ф he began, and was interrupted as another officer, Senior Squadron Commander Elkizer, approached with his entourage. Elkizer and his staff were Naxids, members of the first species to be conquered by the Shaa, and Martinez suppressed annoyance as they scuttled across the polished floor toward Enderby. Not only did they interrupt a conversation vital to MartinezТs career, the Naxids were a species that had always made him uncomfortable.

Perhaps it was the way they moved. They had six limbs, four legs, and another, upper pair that could be used as either arms or legs. They seemed to have only two speeds:stop, andvery, very fast. When they moved, the four feet were in continual motion, scrabbling at the ground, heedless of terrain or even of success. Their feet flung their bodies forward as fast as they could, and when they wanted to go particularly fast, they lowered their centauroid bodies to the ground and used the front two limbs as well, their bodies snaking from side to side in a liquid whiplike motion that frankly gave Martinez the creeps.

The NaxidsТ bodies were covered with black, beaded scales ornamented with a shifting pattern of red. The swift-moving scarlet patterns were used for communication among them, a language which other species found difficult or impossible to decipher. In order not to hamper this communication, Naxid officers wore uniforms of chameleon weave that faithfully duplicated the patterns flashing underneath.

On their home world, in their primitive state, the Naxids had traveled in packs led by one dominant personalityЧand they still did. Even without rank badges, you could tell by body language and demeanor which Naxids were dominant and which subservient. The high-ranking Naxids were impossibly arrogant, and the lower castes cringingly submissive.

Squadron Leader Elkizer scuttled toward Fleet Commander Enderby and slammed to a halt, his upper body thrown back to bare his throat for the killing stroke.

Kill me if you so desire, my lord:that was the serviceТs ideal of subordination.

ElkizerТs entourageЧMartinez wanted to use the wordpack Чimitated their superior. Standing at attention, they came up to EnderbyТs chin, with bodies the size of a very large dog.

УAs you were, lords,Ф Enderby said amiably, then engaged Elkizer in a discussion about whether one of ElkizerТs cruisers would be out of dock in time for the Great MasterТs deathЧand EnderbyТs own suicide, of course. This was complicated by the fact that no one knew when the Great MasterТs death would come, though everyone was reasonably certain it would be soon.

УLeave nothing undone,Ф Enderby said to Martinez after the warm-blooded reptiles went on their way. УYou wonТt mind some extra work helping me with my preparations?Ф

УOf course not, my lord.Ф Which meant, damn it, that his meeting with Warrant Officer Amanda Taen would have to be postponed.

УWe donТt know the day,Ф Enderby said, Уbut we must be ready when it comes.Ф

Martinez felt a sodden, drizzling cloud of gloom press on his skull. УYes, my lord,Ф he said.

а

EnderbyТs office had a soft, aromatic scent, something like vanilla. It occupied the southeast corner of the Commandery, with a curving window that made up two walls. The magnificent view included the limitless, brooding expanse of the Lower Town, and above, ZanshaaТs accelerator ringЧthe thin arc of brilliant sunlit silver that cut across its viridian sky and circled the entire planet.

But Enderby had always been indifferent to the sight. His desk faced away from the huge window, toward the interior of the Commandery, and beyond it to the nearly empty Great Refuge of the Masters, where his duty lay.

Martinez had to suppress his admiration for the view while he was with the Fleet Commander. Enderby had a knack of making himself indifferent to all but the business at hand, but Martinez was more easily distracted. He could have dreamed out the window all day.

As the Fleet CommanderТs communications officer, he supervised messages between Enderby and his extensive command, which included the dozens of ships that belonged to the Home Fleet; the installations on the ground on Zanshaa and elsewhere in the system; the paramilitary Antimatter Service, which serviced the accelerator ring; the installations, training facilities, docks, and stores on the ring itself; the elevators that ran personnel and cargo from the planetТs surface to the ring and back; communication with the Fleet Control Board, EnderbyТs superiors; and handling the intricate communications net that webbed all this together.

Despite the size and complexity of his duties, however, Martinez usually had plenty of time on his hands. The Home Fleet ran on well-worn routine, established over the thousands of years of Shaa dominion. Most of the messages reaching him dealt with matters that scarcely required EnderbyТs attention: routine situation reports, information on stores and requisitions, on maintenance, and on personnel entering and graduating from the training academies. These Martinez filed without ever sending them across the Fleet CommanderТs screens. Flagged for EnderbyТs attention were communications from friends or clients, reports on casualties from accidentsЧwhich always resulted in a personal note of condolence from the Fleet CommanderЧand, more important, appeals from the sentences imposed in the event of breaches of discipline or criminal activity. Enderby always paid close attention to these cases, and sometimes sent a series of painfully blunt questions to the accusing officer, which often resulted in charges being dropped.