"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Dancers Like Children" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

He half-ran away from me. I almost started after him, then let him go.
The boy reached me because I saw a similarity between us. He didn't have a lot
to do with my investigation.
The children laughed behind me as if they hadn't noticed his outburst.
I took Michael's place at the fence and watched, to see if I could learn the
game from observation before I tried talking with the children.
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VI
By midday the dome filter changed, giving the colony a sepia tone. The
children had refused to talk to me, running when I approached. I decided that
I would get Netta to arrange a time for me talk with them. Then I walked to
the office of the Extra-Species Alliance, hoping to talk to Latona Etanl.
The office was clearly marked, one of the few buildings with any
identification at all. Tulips and lilies of the valley blossomed across the
yard, and two maple trees shaded the pathway. The office building itself was
made of terraplastic, but it seemed larger, perhaps because of the windows
beside the door
I mounted the stoop and saw, through the window, a woman get up from
her desk. The door swung open in front of me, and I found myself staring at
the woman from the holos. I recognized her sun-blackened face. It took me a
moment to realize she wasn't wearing a sand scarf. Her long black hair went
down to her knees and wrapped around her like a second skin.
"Ms. Etanl," I said, "I'm -- "
"You're Dr. Schafer. I've been waiting for you." She stood away from
the door, and I stepped inside.
The room had the rich, potent aroma of lilies of the valley. A bunch of
flowers was gathered in a vase by the window. Other vases rested on end tables
beside the wide couch and easy chairs that filled the rest of the space. A
hallway opened beyond the desk, leading to other, smaller rooms. The
sepia-colored light shining through the windows made the outdoors muddy and
the interior even brighter than it should have been.
"Your offices are lovely," I said to cover my surprise at her greeting.
"We like to have pleasant surroundings," she said, and I thought I
heard a kind of condemnation in her voice. "Care for a seat?"
She moved over to one of the easy chairs and waited for me to follow. I
sat on the couch, sinking into the soft cushions. She sat down at the edge of
her seat, looking as if she were going to spring up at a moment's notice.
"Ms. Etanl -- "
"Latona."
"Latona. I'm surprised you knew who I was."
"The colony's small. And Netta told us you would come." She adjusted
her hair over her legs as if it were a skirt. "She blames me for taking the
children out of the colony. She thinks I started the Dancers on this."
Latona hadn't looked at me. "What do you think?" I asked.
She shook her head. "I don't think the Dancers are capable of such
killings."
"From my understanding," I said slowly, "Dancers don't kill their
young. They perform the mutilations to help adolescents reach maturity. Could
something have happened in that one meeting that would have made the Dancers
try to help human children?"