"David Brin - Fourth Vacation of George Gustaf" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brin David)

time each had allotted to Idle Socializing or to Hobby Daydreaming. Everywhere
Hamilton saw signs of the same lackadaisical wrongness that had been evident in the
ritual parade.
He wished he had never started this amateur study of his. The deeper he and Dan
AnMan dug, the more depressed he got. He had never intended to find out about a
moral dryrot at the heart of the World State. He had only wanted something mildly
interesting to help pass the time.
The AnMan spoke again.
"I can tell you are nervous, Hamilton. Don't be. This is the beginning of your
vindication. All of those who said you lacked a proper enthusiasm for amateur
sociology will be refuted when your Loyalty Index theory is demonstrated!"
"You really think so?" Then Hamilton frowned. "Who said I lacked enthusiasm?"
Dan was a sophisticated model, free to choose which question to answer.
"Yes, I do think so, Hamilton. Your discovery appears to be a major one. I find it
interesting that the professional sociologists have published so little about the rising
tide of disenchantment, or on how the surrogate passion of the ritual clubs seems
not to be satisfying the average citizen."
It felt odd hearing his own terminology come out of the AnMan so smoothly. It
made Hamilton feel proud, and just a little embarrassed. Before he could reply, the
android looked up.
"We are here," Dan announced. The taxi came to a smooth halt in front of a
handsome row of townhouses that had obviously been designed by a professional,
rather than an amateur, architect.
Hamilton checked his notes again. "This fellow, his name is..."
"Farrell Cooper."
 "Yes. And the name of his ritual club... ?"
"The Bath and Garter Society, Hamilton."
"Yeah, right. Bath and Garter. Sounds kind of kinky. Group-sex clubs usually
don't work well in the ritual category. I wonder what's so unusual about this one."


For fifteen hours each week Farrell Cooper did service to society in his Vocation,
as a veterinarian's assistant at the New Hampstead Riding Stables. His artistic
avocation was leather-working--a suspiciously large number of the pieces on
display in his home were saddles and other equestrian tack. It was no surprise, then,
that Cooper's Athletic Hobby was riding.
His registered Altruism Hobby consisted of five hours a week helping at a local
Robot Free Clinic, "caring for our modern serfs, who have given us this banquet of
free time," as he put it, rather stiffly.
Cooper was a tall, stooped, hawk-faced man with pursed lips and a dour
expression. He welcomed Dan and Hamilton without enthusiasm, and accepted their
amateur-researcher credentials with barely a glance. After showing them his work
and study rooms he led them into the parlor.
Hamilton sat on the tooled-leather sofa and opened his notebook. "Well, Mr.
Cooper, we've seen examples of your art skill, and your other avocations. What
we'd really like to know more about is your ritual club. Our survey shows that you
spend the maximum time allowed--a full twenty hours a week--working for this...
Bath and Garter Society. Yet the group seems to have full-scale meetings only a few
times a year. Just what is your function in the club?"
Cooper fidgeted. For a moment he looked as if he were actually considering