"L. E. Modesitt - The Forever Hero 3 - The Endless Twilight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

arrangement. Took it personally, but felt some belonged to the foundation. Means no draw on my operating
account for a while. Remainder of the OERF share is coming through the general receipts. Code blue."

Lyr frowned. That she'd have to check. Credits were often the last thing the commander worried
about, the very last thing .

". . . off to Byzania. See you soon."

He always closed that way, she reflected, tapping the studs to store the message in the permanent
file, but it had been more than five years since he had been anywhere near New Augusta.

She pursed her lips, knowing she should be somewhere other than before the console at 2030 on a
spring evening. At less than seventy, she certainly wasn't novaed; her weight was the same as it had been
years earlier; and her muscle tone, thanks to her exercise regime, was probably better. She looked far
younger than she was.

"That could be the trouble . . ."

She cut off her monologue before it began and called up the general receipts account and the
commander's code blue entry.

"Unsolicited donation. Fyrst V D'berg, Aerlion. One million credits. Codes follow. . . ."



4
 Lyr ran her tongue over her chapped lips. Gerswin and his unsolicited donations ran to as much as
several million annually. Where he found them she wondered, but they always were supported.

And his ventures . . . she really wanted to ask him what else he had been doing besides tracking
completed grants and projects and grantees who had failed to report or collect. Always the ventures, like the
fabrication plant on Solor and whatever he was doing on Westmark with that plant protein substitute. Add to
that the aliases . . . she worried at her lower lip with her upper teeth.

After forty years with the foundation, she could see an accelerating trend, even more than in the first
few years after the commodore's retirement, a trend where things were building. To what, she didn't know,
but once again she had the feeling that the Empire and the commodore were going to clash.

She'd really have to talk to him about it--assuming he ever came back.




5
 III
"SELERN? THE NEPHEW of the old Earl?"

The deep bass voice disconcerted Selern, coming as it did from the chipmunk cheeks and bright
green eyes of a fool. But His Majesty Ryrce N'Gaio Bartoleme VIII was no fool, reflected Selern, not if his
actions in removing the previous Eye indicated anything at all.