"Nancy Kress - And Wild for to Hold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

"So far I am impressed," the high priest said. "Impeccable hostage
conditions on the material side."

Brill murmured, "Of course, the spiritual is difficult. The three hostages
are so different from each other, and even for culture specialists and
historians… the hostages arrive here very upset."

"As would you or I," the high priest said, not smiling, "in similar
circumstances."

"Yes, Your Holiness."
 "And now you wish to add a fourth hostage, from a fourth time
stream."

"Yes."

The high priest looked slowly around at the main console; Lambert
noticed that she looked right past the time-jump square itself. Not trained
in peripheral vision techniques. But she looked a long time at the stasis
square. They all did; outsiders were unduly fascinated by the idea that the
whole building existed between time streams. Or maybe Her Holiness
merely objected to the fact that the Time Research Institute, like some
larger but hardly richer institutions, was exempt from the all-world
taxation that supported the Church. Real-estate outside time was also
outside taxation.

The high priest said, "I cannot give permission for such a political
disruption without understanding fully every possible detail. Tell me
again."

Lambert hid a grin. The high priest did not need to hear it again. She
knew the whole argument, had pored over it for days, most likely, with her
advisers. And she would agree; why wouldn't she? It could only add to her
power. Brill knew that. He was being asked to explain only to show that
the high priest could force him to do it, again and again, until she—not
he—decided the explanation was sufficient and the Church of the Holy
Hostage issued a permanent hostage permit to hold one Anne Boleyn, of
England Time Delta, for the altruistic purpose of preventing a
demonstrable, Class One war.

Brill showed no outward recognition that he was being humbled. "Your
Holiness, this woman is a fulcrum. The Rahvoli equations, developed in
the last century by—"

"I know the Rahvoli equations," the high priest said. And smiled
sweetly.

"Then Your Holiness knows that any person identified by the equations
as a fulcrum is directly responsible for the course of history. Even if he or