Riders of the Storm (Julie E. Czerneda) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги (ч. 38)

Epilogue

THE ONLY LIGHT SHONE above a beige desk. There were other beige desks, rows upon rows of desks, but only this one was in use tonight.

On this desk, on all the desks, were stacks of glittering cubes and disks. Records from hundreds of worlds, data from thousands of research teams. Expectations, ramifications, explanations, excuses, pleas.

Centered under the only light, on this desk, lay something else.

A solitary sheet of plas, covered in handwriting, entitled: “Hoveny Concentrix Prospect 893ZE28L (Cersi: Site Four) Upgrade Request.”

Hands entered the light, thin, scaled, delicate of finger and touch. They bent the sheet exactly in half, creased the fold neatly, then in half again, creased. One last time.

Then turned out the light.