"Kate Elliott - Jaran 1 - Jaran" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

Terese Soerensen to Charles Soerensen

Dear Charles,

I finished my thesis early (with honors, by the way) and Univerzita Karlova agreed to
give me a leave of absence. I've let out my flat in Prague and I'm going to visit Dr. Hierakis at
the palace in Jeds. I know I don't have an official clearance for Rhui, but I do have a copy of
the preserve regulations, and you know how well I speak Rhuian. I'm going to appropriate a
place on the Rhuian cargo shuttle of the next ship headed to the Dao Cee system. I'm
thinking of doing my dissertation on one of the Rhuian languages, so I'll be researching as
well. I'm not sure how soon I'll get to Odys.

Your loving sister, Tess
CHAPTER ONE
"I wept and I wailed

when I saw the unfamiliar land."

—Empedocles of Agragas

A spark flew, spiraling upward from the massive frame of the new Port Authority building.
Its fiery light winked out against the heavy glastic pane that separated the deep pit of the
construction bay from the temporary spaceport offices.

Two young women sat on a padded bench by the huge overlook. One, black-skinned
and black-haired, watched the work below. The second, looking pale and light-haired mostly
in contrast to her companion, studied the words she had just typed into her hand-held
computer slate. She frowned.

"What are you writing, Tess?" asked the first, turning back to her friend. Then she
grinned. "Sweet Goddess, what language is that in?"

Tess tapped save and clear and the words vanished. "Just practicing." She shrugged.
"That was late American English. It's only about 300 years old, so you could probably puzzle
it out given time. I built in a translation program. Here's how the same thing would look in
classical Latin." Words appeared again. "Ophiuchi-Sei." The letters shifted to a fluid script.
"And here's court Chapalii. Formal Chapalii. And colloquial enscribed Chapalii. You'll notice
how the glyphs differ in written form only in the tails and in the angling of the curve—"

"You are nervous, aren't you? What if the captain refuses you passage?"

"He won't refuse," muttered Tess. She brushed her hand across the screen, clearing it.
"And steward class Chapalii of course has no enscribed counterpart at all, so I've transcribed
it into Anglais characters. What do you think, Soje? It's an act of rebellion, you know, for
stewards to write."

Sojourner lifted her brows questioningly and glanced out at the new port building rising
behind them along alien lines. Along Chapalii lines. "Is that why the chameleons think we
humans are barbarians? Because we allow everyone to write?''