"Baxter, Stephen - Manifold 03 - Origin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Baxter Stephen)

But the day was bright, dazzling now the sun was climbing higher, and her eyes
filled with water.

She sat back in her seat, and her various harnesses and buckles rustled and
clinked around her, loud in the tiny cockpit. 'What did it say, Malenfant? The
Russian psych report.'

He growled, '"Peculiarities".'

'What kind of peculiarities?'

'In my relations with the rest of the crew. They gave an example about how I was
in the middle of a task and some Russkie came over nagging about how we were
scheduled to do something else. Well, I nodded politely, and carried right on
with what I was doing, until I was finished...'

Now she started to understand. The Russians, who rightly believed they were
still far ahead of the West in the psychology of the peculiarly cramped
conditions of space travel, placed great collectivist emphasis on teamwork and
sacrifice. They would not warm to a driven, somewhat obsessive loner
perfectionist like Malenfant.

'I should have socialized with the assholes,' he said now. 'I should have gone
to the cosmonauts' coldwater apartments, and drunk their crummy vodka, and
pressed the flesh with the guys on the gate.'

She laughed, gently. 'Malenfant, you don't even socialize at NASA.'

'My nature got me where I am now.'

Yeah, washed out, she thought brutally. 'But maybe it's not the nature you need
for long-duration space missions. I guess not everybody forgives you the way I
do.'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

She ignored the question. 'So the psych report is the real reason they grounded
you. The shoulder was just an excuse.'

'The Russians must have known the psych report would never stand up to scrutiny.
If Joe Bridges had got his thumb out of his ass -'

'Oh, Malenfant, don't you see? They were giving you cover. If you're going to be
grounded, do you want it to be because of your shoulder, or your personality?
Think about it. They were trying to help you. They all were.'

'That kind of help I can live without.' Again he wrenched the plane through a
savage snap roll.