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

Martinez felt relief whenever this happened. He had seen enough of service justice to know how rough it was, and how lazy the investigating officer could be. He knew that if he should ever be subject to the draconian penalties of the law, heТd want someone like Enderby reviewing the case.

During his time as the Fleet CommanderТs aide, nothing like a real emergency had ever occurred to disturb the orderly flow of routine. Procedures were that well-honed. But the leisurely pace of his regular work was as nothing compared to the private business on which Enderby concentrated that day. Even though Martinez had worked with Enderby almost daily for months, he had no idea how complex the Fleet CommanderТs life was.

Enderby had a thousand details to dispose ofЧbequests to friends, children, relatives, dependents, and subordinates. He was colossally wealthy, a fact Martinez hadnТt quite realized. Though the Fleet Commander stayed in modest lodgings in the Commandery, he owned a palace in the High City, which heТd closed, apparently, after his divorce. This was left as a bequest to his eldest daughter, who held a high post in the Ministry of Fisheries, though suites were left to other children for their lifetimes. Other property on Zanshaa and elsewhere had to be dealt with, along with the contents of bank and stock accounts, bonds, and a bewildering array of complex financial instruments.

Martinez sat at his desk in EnderbyТs office and processed these bequests along with his normal signals traffic. Into the traffic he managed to insert a personal item, a request to Warrant Officer Taen, begging a postponement of their date.

EnderbyТs secretary, an elderly sublieutenant named Gupta, who had been with him for years, was likewise kept busy, dealing with other aspects of a long, rich, complex life now being brought to a conclusion.

Commanders of fleet rank were allowed to recommend a certain number of promotions on retirement. But if a list existed, it did not cross MartinezТs desk, and he knew better than to ask Gupta if it had crossed his.

But he very much wished he knew whether his name was on it.

One personal message came to Martinez during the course of his day. Not from Warrant Officer Taen, unfortunately, but from his own sister, Vipsania. She looked at him lazily out of the desk display and tossed her dark hair with a studied gesture. УWeТre having a party early next month.Ф Her tones were even more plummy, if possible, than when heТd last heard them. УWeТd love for you to come, Gareth darling, but I imagine youТll be too busy.Ф

Martinez didnТt send a reply. He knew his sister well enough to realize that he had just heard an order to be too busy to attend their partyЧthe УGareth, darlingФ was a clue he couldnТt miss.

Vipsania and the two other Martinez sisters, Walpurga and Sempronia, had turned up on Zanshaa just a few months after heТd begun his tour of duty. They rented half of the old Shelley Palace and plunged into Zanshaa society. Sempronia was supposedly attending university, with the others looking after her, but if there was any education going on, it did not seem to be from textbooks.

MartinezТs previous memories of his three sisters had been of childrenЧannoying, intelligent, conniving, pestiferous children, admittedly, but still children. The formidable young women who held court in the Shelley Palace now seemed not only grown-up, but agelessЧlike nymphs gracing a fountain, they seemed eternal, strangely out of time.

They might have been expected to need MartinezТs help in establishing themselves in the capital, but they had come with letters of introduction, and in fact hadnТt needed him at all. If anything, they wanted him to stay away. They had lost their Laredo accents somewhere in the course of growing up, and his own speech was a reminder of their common provincial origins, one that might embarrass them in front of their new glit friends.

Sometimes Martinez wondered if he disliked his sisters. But what did fountain nymphs care if they were liked or not? They simplywere.

By the time Enderby finished his work, the sun had set and ZanshaaТs silver accelerator ring, half eclipsed by the planetТs shadow, was visible now only as a constellation of lights arcing across the night sky. Night birds hunted insects outside the curved window. Sour sweat gathered under MartinezТs arms and under the collar of his dark green uniform tunic. His tailbone ached. He wanted to shower and have Warrant Officer Taen massage his shoulders with long, purposeful fingers.

Fleet Commander Enderby signed hard copy of the remaining documents and thumbprinted them. Martinez and Gupta witnessed the documents where necessary. Then Enderby turned off his screens and rose from his seat, rolling his shoulders in a subdued stretch consonant with the dignity of his office.

УThank you, my lords,Ф he said, then looked at Martinez. УLieutenant Martinez, will you see that the invitations to the ship commanders are delivered?Ф

MartinezТs heart sank. The УinvitationsФЧnot the sort any commander would dare declineЧwere to a meeting concerning Fleet dispositions on the day of the Great MasterТs death, and by service custom such requests had to be delivered by hand.

УYes, my lord,Ф he said. УIТll bring them up to the ring as soon as I can print hard copy.Ф

The Fleet CommanderТs mild brown eyes turned to him. УNo need to go yourself,Ф he said. УSend one of the duty cadets.Ф

A small mercy, at least. УThank you, Lord Commander.Ф

Sublieutenant Gupta received EnderbyТs thanks, braced in salute, and made his way out. Martinez put special thick bond paper into the printerЧactual trees went into making this stuffЧand printed EnderbyТs invitations. When he finished putting them in envelopes, he looked up and saw Enderby gazing out the great curved window. The myriad lights of the Lower Town illuminated and softened his profile. There was an uncertainty in his glance, a strange, lost vacancy.

For once Enderby could stand in his office and contemplate the view. He had no duty awaiting him.

Nothing was left undone.

Martinez wondered if a man as successful as Enderby had any real regrets at the end of his life. Even granted that he was from a clan of the highest caste, heТd done well. Though his position had carried him through several promotions, no one wasguaranteed the rank of Fleet Commander. He was wealthy, he had added to the honor of his house, his children were all established in life and doing well. True, the wife was a problem, but the investigators had gone out of their way to make it clear that her peculations were no stain on the Fleet Commander.

Perhaps he loved her, Martinez thought. Marriages among the Peers were usually arranged by the family, but sometimes love happened. Perhaps, in a situation such as the commanderТs, it was the love one regretted, not the marriage.