"Joe Haldeman - Tricentennial (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haldeman Joe)

Stuck on this lift for hours, perforce: This lift that cost a million
bucks. There's no such thing as centrifugal force: L-S sucks.

Thirty more weightless seconds as they slid to the ground. There were a
couple of dozen people waiting on the loading platform.

Charlie stepped out into the smell of orange blossoms and newly mown
grass. He was home.

"Charliel Hey, over here." Young man standing by a tandem bicycle.
Charlie squeezed both his hands and then jumped on the back seat.
"Drink."

"Did you get-"

"Drink. Then talk." They glided down the smooth macadam road toward
town.

The bar was just a rain canopy over some tables and chairs, overlooking
the lake in the center of town. No bartender: you went to the service
table and punched in your credit number, then chose wine or fruit
juice; with or without vacuum-distilled raw alcohol. They talked about
shuttle nerves awhile, then:.

"What you get from Connors?"

"Words, not much. I'll give a full report at the meeting tonight. Looks
like we won't even get on the ballot, though."

"Now isn't that what we said was going to happen? We shoulda gone with
Francois Petain's idea."

"Too risky." Petain's plan had been to tell Death Valley they had to
shut down the laser for repairs. Not tell the groundhogs about the
signal at all, just answer it. "If they found out they'd sue us down to
our teeth."

The man shook his head. "I'll never understand groundhogs."

"Not your job." Charlie was an Earth-born, Earth trained psychologist.
"Nobody born here ever could."

"Maybe so." He stood up. "Thanks for the drink; I've gotta get back to
work. You know to call Dr. Bemis before the meeting?"
"Yeah. There was a message at the Cape."

"She has a surprise for you."

"Doesn't she always? You clowns never-do anything around here until I
leave."