"Brian Lumley - E-Branch 1 - Defilers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lumley Brian)

better man for it if he could.-Goodbye, Ben. I love you . ..
Then the blinding flash of white light that had woken him up that time three years ago-which he
had hoped was only the glare of his bedside lamp, perhaps blinking into life where his arm had hit
the cord as he threshed in his nightmare. Trask had hoped so, yes, but deep inside he'd known it
wasn't so. For the truth and Ben Trask were soul mates. The truth was his talent, and sometimes
his curse. Times such as that time. That blinding flash of white light. . .
. . . Which wasn't white at all but green, and which wasn't blinding but merely blinking. One of
the tiny lights on Trask's desk console, drawing him back to Earth, to the present, to the now. He
unfroze, tripped a switch, spoke to the duty officer:
"What is it?" His voice was a harsh rasp.
"Sorry to interrupt you, boss," the answer came back,- Paul Garvey's voice, even softer than
usual. Garvey was a full-blown telepath, and despite Branch protocol-a mainly unspoken policy that
espers would never use their talents on each other-still it was possible he'd inadvertently
detected something of Trask's mood of introspection. "This one's for you. It's Premier Gustav
Turchin, calling from-"
"Calcutta?" said Trask, cutting the other short. And casting a glance at the small occasional
table where he'd deposited the morning newspapers, he frowned.
"Right," said Garvey. "He's calling from-"
"The German embassy," Trask nodded, understanding dawning. "The sly old bastard!"
After a pause, mystified, Garvey said, "Well, you seem to be way ahead of me! Anyway, it sounds
urgent."
"Earth Year," Trask said, nodding to himself.
El Nino had let India off light this time around, but the world's rapidly changing weather
patterns were only one of the Earth's problems. Pollution was

NECROSCOPE: DEFILERS
another, and a big one,- Turchin would be in Calcutta to lie his head off at the Earth Year
Conference there, answering Russia's accusers in that respect. Not that he would want to, for just
like Trask he knew the truth of it: that indeed the destitute Russian military was muddying the
world's waters. But at least the conference-one of many Earth Year conferences-would free him from
several far more weighty problems back home. It would also make him the spokesman of his people,
helping with his image to boot.
In Brisbane Trask had worked out a deal with the premier: his help with Turchin's problems in
return for certain important information,- this could be it coming through right now. As for where
it was coming from:
The morning newspapers carried the story. Last night Turchin had been insulted by Hans
Bruchmeister, one of the German delegates. There and then he'd threatened to abandon the
conference, fly home, and leave the rest of them to get on with it. But since Russia (along with
the USA) was alleged to be one of the worst offenders, what would the conference amount to without
a Russian representative? The other delegates had tried to cool things down, but Turchin had
insisted:
"When I have received Herr Bruchmeister's apology-when I've stood face-to-face with him in the
German Embassy here in Calcutta, bearding the lion in his own den, as it were-then and only then
will I be encouraged to stay. For after all, I'm the Russian premier. And I must consider my


file:///G|/rah/Brian%20Lumley/Brian%20Lumley%20-%20E-Branch%201%20-%20Defilers.txt (6 of 263) [2/13/2004 10:10:51 PM]
 file:///G|/rah/Brian%20Lumley/Brian%20Lumley%20-%20E-Branch%201%20-%20Defilers.txt

reputation and the honour of my people . . ."