"David Weber - Dahak 03 - Heirs of Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

"Then I'm glad you've got him." Colin knew Lawrence Jefferson less well than he would have liked,
but what he knew impressed him. Under the Great Charter, imperial planetary governors were appointed
by the Emperor, but a lieutenant governor was appointed by his immediate superior with the advice and
consent of his Planetary Council. After so many centuries as an inhabitant (if not precisely a citizen) of the
North American continent, Horus had chosen to turn that advice and consent function into an election,
soliciting nominations from his Councilors, and Jefferson was the result. A US senator when Colin raided
Anu's enclave, he'd done yeoman work throughout the Siege, then resigned midway through his third
senatorial term to assume his new post, where he'd soon made his mark as a man of charm, wit, and
ability.
Now Colin turned to Ninhursag. "Anything new from ONI, 'Hursag?"
"Not really." Like Horus and Jiltanith, the stocky, pleasantly plain woman had come to Earth aboard
Dahak. Like Horus (but unlike Jiltanith, who'd been a child at the time), she'd joined Fleet Captain Anu's
mutiny, only to discover to her horror that it was but the first step in Dahak's Chief Engineer's plan to
topple the Imperium itself. But whereas Horus had deserted Anu and launched a millennia-long guerrilla
war against him, Ninhursag had been stuck in stasis in Anu's Antarctic enclave. When she was finally
awakened, she'd managed to contact the guerrillas and provide the information which had made the final,
desperate attack on the enclave possible. Now, as a Battle Fleet admiral, she ran Naval Intelligence and
enjoyed describing herself as Colin's "SIC," or "Spook In Chief." Colin was fond of telling her her
self-created acronym was entirely apt.
"We've still got problems," she continued, "because Horus is right. When you stand an entire world
on its head, you generate a lot of resentment. On the other hand, Earth took half a billion casualties from
the Achuultani, and everybody knows who saved the rest of them. Almost all of them are willing to give
you and 'Tanni the benefit of the doubt on anything you do or we do in your names. Gus and I are
keeping an eye on the discontented elements, but most of them disliked one another enough before the
Siege to make any kind of cooperation difficult. Even if they didn't, they can't do much to buck the kind
of devotion the rest of the human race feels for you."
Colin no longer blushed when people said things like that, and he nodded thoughtfully. Gustav van
Gelder was Horus' Minister of Security, and while Ninhursag understood the possibilities of Imperial
technology far better than he, Gus had taught her a lot about how people worked.
"To be perfectly honest," Ninhursag continued, "I'd be a bit happier if I could find something serious
to worry about."
"How's that?" Colin asked.
"I guess I'm like Horus, worrying about what's going to bite me next. We're moving so fast I can't
even identify all the players, much less what they might be up to, and even the best security measures
could be leaking like a sieve. For instance, I've spent hours with Dahak and a whole team of my brightest
boys and girls, and we still can't figure a way to ID Anu's surviving Terra-born allies."
"Are you saying we didn't get them all?!" Colin jerked upright, and Jiltanith tensed at his side.
Ninhursag looked surprised at their reactions.
"Didn't you tell him, Dahak?" she asked.
"I regret," the mellow voice sounded unwontedly uncomfortable, "that I did not. Or, rather, I did not
do so explicitly."
"And what the hell does that mean?" Colin demanded.
"I mean, Colin, that I included the data in one of your implant downloads but failed to draw your
attention specifically to them."
Colin frowned and keyed the mental sequence that opened the index of his implant knowledge. The
problem with implant education was that it simply stored data; until someone used that information, he
might not even know he had it. Now the report Dahak referred to sprang into his forebrain, and he bit off
a curse.
"Dahak," he began plaintively, "I've told you—"
"You have." The computer hesitated a moment, then went on. "As you know, my equivalent of the