"David Gerrold - Starsiders 3 - Leaping to the Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gerrold David)

Starsiders trilogy

book 3

Leaping to the Stars

by David Gerrold

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THE INTERVIEW "YOU UNDERSTAND, OF COURSE, that this is a one-way trip. There will be no
possibility of return." The interviewer's name was Gary Boynton, and he was commander of the mission.
He looked like one of those detectives who wanted to be your friend, while the other one stood off to
one side, scowling impatiently and waiting to get ugly. Except there wasn't any other detective, just a
couple of aides who hardly said anything at all. We all nodded as if we understood. Me, Douglas,
Mickey. Dad. Mom and her friend, Bev. Bobby sat next to me, with the monkey on his lap. He didn't
care where we were going as long as we all stayed together. Boynton had glanced at the monkey a
couple of times. He knew what it contained, everybody on Luna did, but unlike all the other interviewers,
he wasn't saying much about it. "You can stay here on Luna, Mr. Dingillian. Or you can go to Mars, or to
one of the Jovian moons, or even to the rings or the asteroids. Most of those settlements are
self-sufficient in a rudimentary sort of way. And if the situation on Earth ever settles down, you could go
back home. As millionaires. You don't need to go to Outbeyond." "The situation on Earth isn't going to
settle down," said Dad. Boynton was very patient. He said, "The plagues will burn out within two years.
Three at the most. Our intelligence engines suggest that reconstruction and rehabilitation could put Earth's
level of technology back to pre-plague levels within ten years, twenty at the most."
"Your intelligence engines are wrong," said the monkey, very politely. Boynton wasn't going to
argue-especially not with an intelligence engine that had publicly embarrassed a Lunar Authority Judge.
At least, that's how the media was playing it. He shrugged off the interruption. "Whatever the case,
however long it takes Earth to recover, if you stay here on Luna, you still have the possibility of returning
someday. If you emigrate, that option is gone forever." He looked around the table. We were sitting on a
terrace overlooking a spectacular view of the lake and the forest under Armstrong Dome. A flock of
bright red chickens bounced across the grass like balloons, flapping their stubby wings and clucking
excitedly. It was almost pretty. We'd argued about staying right here on the moon more than once, but
Douglas and Mickey didn't like the politics. And I didn't want to hang around anyplace with fanatics like
Alexei. And even though we had all agreed to respect each other's points of view, ever since we'd
divorced Mom and Dad, Douglas and I had gotten used to making our own decisions-even the wrong
ones. Boynton continued. He was telling us what we already knew. "Outbeyond Colony is the farthest
colony from Earth. Thirty-five light years. There have been three exploratory missions and five
colonization voyages. A beachhead has been established. Not a colony. A beachhead. The situation
there is tenuous. Life will be difficult and dangerous. Survival is not guaranteed. "We're telling this to
everyone. If you go to Outbeyond, you will die there. The question is not if, but when. Will you have a
long, hard, laborious life before you die? Or will you die within a few months or years, of some
unforeseen disaster? We are asking everyone, even those who have already signed on, to reconsider
their commitment, because once we get there, life will be hard. Not just hard, but harder than you
imagine. "We will work-all of us, even Bobby-twenty-hour days. We will be short of food, short of
sleep, short of supplies. Everything will be rationed. We will not be able to call for