"Modesitt, L E - Forever Hero 03 - The Endless Twilight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

"Are you?" asked Selern, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice.

"No Emperor can afford to be trustworthy, Selern, except when he benefits by it." Ryrce laughed softly, a deep chuckling sound, before speaking again. "Then, he cannot afford not to be."

Selern waited.

"As of tomorrow, you assume the position of Eye. Both Eye regents have also been terminated."

Selern swallowed hard.

"What else could I do? Either they chose not to stand up to Calendra, or they agreed. I suppose they might also have failed to see his plans."

"Your action makes sense." Selern nodded slowly. "Unfortunately."

"You noted the question of certain nuclear weapons. What do you propose?"

"Finding them, if possible."

"If you cannot?"

"Trying to avoid situations where they might be used."

"And if that fails?"

"Waiting for the ax to fall when they are used again."

Ryrce laughed once more, this time a bass and booming guffaw.

"At least you understand for whom you work!"

Selern—the new Eye who had never desired the position—waited.

"There should be some records. Calendra implied that a single man controlled them. He saw that man would be my downfall as well."

Selern repressed a shudder. One man? One single individual with that kind of power?

"If the remainder of those missing tacheads and hellburners are used in the wrong way," commented Selern slowly, "that just might undermine all the centuries of peace."

"I doubt that any one individual could have that great an impact on the Empire," observed His Imperial Majesty. "But with nuclear weapons . . ."

The implication was clear. Selern's job was to keep the Empire whole and hearty, including the prevention of any one man from undermining its authority and image. Trust was the glue that held the Empire together, and the Empire was the structure of humanity, the one remaining web binding man in a common purpose.

Selern sighed.

Ryrce N'Gaio Bartoleme VIII nodded at the sound from his new Chief of Intelligence, nodded and stood to signify that the private audience was at an end.

IV

GERSWIN RUBBED HIS forehead, massaged his eyes, and looked away from the data screen on the right side of the Caroljoy's control console.