"David Wingrove - Chung Kuo 3 - The White Mountain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wingrove David)

Li Shai Tung stared at him, then looked away. "No. . ."he began, as if to deny it; but for once denial
was impossible. This was what he had feared, his darkest dream made real. A sign of things to come.

He had been ill of late. For the first time in a long, healthy life he had been confined to bed. That, too,
seemed a sign. An indication that things were slipping from him. ControlтАФit began with one's own body
and spread outward.
 He nodded to himself, seeing it now. This was personal. An attack upon his person. For he was the
State. Was the City.

There was a sickness loose, a virus in the veins of the world. Corruption was rife. Dispersionism,
Leveling, even this current obsession in the Above with longevityтАФall these were symptoms of it. The
actions of such groups were subtle, invidious, not immediately evident; yet ultimately they proved fatal.
Expectations had changed and that had undermined the stability of everything. They want to pull it
down.

"What did they do here, Knut? How did they do this?"

"We've had to make some assumptions, but a few things are known for certain. Bremen Central
Maintenance reports that all communications to Deck Nine were cut at second bell."

"All?" Li Shai Tung shook his head, astonished. "Is that possible, Knut?" "That was part of the
problem. They didn't believe it, either; so they wasted an hour checking for faults in the system at their
end. They didn't think to send anyone to make a physical check."

Li Shai Tung grimaced. "Would it have made a difference?" "No. No difference, Chieh Hsia. There
was no chance of doing anything after the first ten minutes. They set their fires on four different levels.
Big, messy chemical things. Then they rigged the ventilators to pump oxygen-rich air through the system
at increased capacity." "And the seals?"

Tolonen swallowed. "There was no chance anyone could have gotten out. They'd blown the transit
and derailed the bolt. All the interlevel lifts were jammed. That was part of the communications blackout.
The whole deck must have been in darkness."

"And that's it?" Li Shai Tung felt sickened by the callousness of it all.

Tolonen hesitated, then spoke again. "This was done by experts, Chieh Hsia, Knowledgeable men,
superbly trained, efficiently organized. Our own special services men could have done no better."

Li Shai Tung looked back at him. "Say it, Knut," he said softly. "Don't keep it to yourself. Even if it
proves wrong, say it."

Tolonen met his eyes, then nodded. "All of this speaks of money. Big money. The technology needed
to cut off a deck's communicationsтАФit's all too much for normal Ping Two funding. Out of their range.
There has to be a backer."

The T'ang considered a moment. "Then it's still going on. We didn't win the War after all. Not finally."

Tolonen looked down. Li Shai Tung's manner disturbed him. Since his illness he had been different.
Off-balance and indecisive, withdrawn, almost melancholy. The sickness had robbed him of more than
his strength; it had taken some of his sharpness, his quickness of mind. It fell upon the Marshal to lead