Perfect State

Текст добавлен: 8 октября 2016, 17:54

Текст книги "Perfect State"

Автор книги: Brandon Sanderson

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“I’m sorry, my lord,” Besk said. “But she was not real. I noticed it, but Melhi cut me from the system. That woman was just like the emissary we met in the Border State—a fabrication controlled from afar, only this time created to be indistinguishable from a human being.”

I said nothing, standing beside my window, looking out over my city. My study felt too warm. Too friendly. A lie.

“I’m having trouble getting any answers from the Wode,” Besk continued. “I . . . I don’t know how he knew which woman we would pick.”

“He didn’t,” I said. “He intercepted the information detailing the one we had picked, kept it from reaching the actual woman, and sent a replacement.”

“Ah, of course.” Besk’s voice was sterile, as always.

“Were any of them real?” I asked softly. “The people I saved? Or was everything in that State Melhi’s creation?”

“I don’t know.”

Everything I talked about with her . . . everything she said . . . it was all fake.

I knew nothing. I didn’t even know what to feel.

Besk left me in my study. He obviously had no idea what to do; he’d been hovering since my return. The warmed wine sat on the table beside my hearth, untouched.

I paced, feeling angry, betrayed, hollow.

Finally, I picked up the Wode Scroll and wrote out a simple request. Who are the Liveborn in the ten jars to either side of me? I would like their names and the identifiers of their States.

I waited. Eventually, a reply came, letters appearing on the stone face as if written in ink.

We apologize for the trauma you have been put through. Melhi will be disciplined. We do not know how she hacked that State; it should not have been possible. You are released from propagation duty, per a unanimous judgment. You may return to your rule.

I stared at the slate for a few moments, then wrote again. What are the names and State identifiers of the Liveborn in the ten jars closest to my own? I would like to contact them.

A long pause. Finally, the names came.

It was time to stop living my life in isolation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With every project, there are many hands working behind the scenes. Everyone involved deserves thanks.

I would like to thank my writing group, Here There Be Dragons: Emily Sanderson, Peter & Karen Ahlstrom, Ben & Danielle Olsen, Alan Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Eric Patten, and Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson. Isaac St€wart is responsible for the look of the finished product. The Ineffable Peter Ahlstrom did his usual marvelous editing job. J.P. Targete adapted his striking artwork to better fit this story.

Community proofreaders for this volume include Alice Arneson, Aaron Biggs, Jakob Remick, Corby Campbell, Kelly Neumann, Megan Kanne, Maren Menke, Bob Kluttz, Lyndsey Luther, Kalyani Poluri, Rahul Pantula, Aaron Ford, Ruchita Dhawan, Gary Singer, and Bart Butler. Thank you for all of your input!

Brandon Sanderson

ALSO BY BRANDON SANDERSON

Novelettes

Firstborn

Defending Elysium

Novellas

The Emperor’s Soul

Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

Sixth of the Dusk

Perfect State

Novels

Elantris

Warbreaker

The Rithmatist

The Stormlight Archive

The Way of Kings

Words of Radiance

The Reckoners

Steelheart

Mitosis: A Reckoners Story

Firefight

Mistborn

Mistborn: The Final Empire

The Well of Ascension

The Hero of Ages

The Alloy of Law

Legion

Legion

Legion: Skin Deep

The Evil Librarians

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones

Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia

Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens

Infinity Blade

Infinity Blade: Awakening

Infinity Blade: Redemption

The Wheel of Time, with Robert Jordan

The Gathering Storm

Towers of Midnight

A Memory of Light

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

PERFECT STATE

Cover design and art direction by Isaac Stewart

Electronic book design by Peter Ahlstrom

A Dragonsteel Entertainment Book

Published by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC

American Fork, UT

BrandonSanderson.com

ISBN 978-1-938570-09-4

First electronic edition: April 2015

CONTENTS TITLE PAGE

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