"Alexander Kazantsev. The Destruction of Faena (ГИБЕЛЬ ФАЭНЫ, англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

The Blood Door! It was one of the most reliable of the devices in the
Lair, as the Dictator's palace was called. Yar Jupi had long been racked by
persecution mania. It seemed to him that there were conspiracies under way
everywhere to assassinate him. Consequently, he had been living for many
cycles without leaving the territory of the Lair and never letting himself
be seen outside its walls. He communicated with his subordinates only over
closed TV. He trusted no one. Security was maintained at key points by
automatons who admitted only chosen Faetians with identifiable brain
biocurrents.
Only the Faetians closest to the Dictator could use the Blood Door.
There was no other key to it and no outsider could open it.
And now Mother Lua had to escort foreigners into the garden outside the
Wall. She knew that her charge would not change her mind. Moreover, she did
not want to obstruct Mada in any case.
Need it be said that Ave, the young Faetian, had also fallen in love?
Inclined to extremes by nature, time and time again he relived the moments
when, with their arms round each other's waists, he and the wonderful
Faetess had ridden the surf together. He was in a fever, but he could not
imagine how to see his beloved again, since she had turned out to be Yar
Jupi's daughter.
Grunting as if carrying a heavy load, Kutsi Merc trudged along behind
Ave. He was not in the least surprised to notice that the nurse had fallen
behind her charge and was adjusting a shoelace.
Letting Ave go ahead, the hunchback hung back near the roundhead, and
she, without straightening up, said almost inaudibly:
"As soon as shining Jupi rises in the sky, take your master to the
ruins of the old shrine in the Dread Wall."
Kutsi Merc nodded, grinned craftily and caught up with his master.
"Success is the envy of failures. A tryst has been made at the old
ruins in the light of Jupi, the brightest of planets."
Ave looked round suddenly.
"Are you jesting?"
"Jesting is of no avail in my profession. Kutsi Merc is too good a ...
helper."


By a whim of the Dictator's, the Dread Wall round his Lair ran through
a tiny ruined shrine dividing it into two halves. This screened from view
the Blood Door, which was hardly noticeable in any case. The wall in the
lower part divided in obedience to the brain biocurrents written into the
program of the electronic automatons.
Mother Lua nervously gave the door its mental instructions and it
opened.
Ave and Kutsi Merc, who were standing in the half-ruined portico,
quickly proceeded through the gap, Lua followed them and the Wall closed
behind her. Only the ruins on the inner side of the wall showed where to
look for the vanished door.
Ave looked round. He was in a luxuriant garden. Sinuous lianas hung
down like snakes guarding their prey. Beyond the shaggy tree-trunks lurked a
gloom that seemed dense and clammy. Lua, the nocturnal luminary whose name