"Robert A. Heinlein - Methuselahs Children" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

„No-Cecil Hedrick. Are your controls cast loose?“
„Yes. Take over.“
Seventeen minutes later the car surfaced in a pool which occupied much of
an artificial cave. When the car was beached, Mary got out, said hello to the
guards and went on through a tunnel into a large underground room where
fifty or sixty men and women were seated. She chatted until a clock
announced midnight, then she mounted a rostrum and faced them.
„I am,“ she stated, „one hundred and eighty-three years old. Is there anyone
here who is older?“
No one spoke. After a decent wait she went on, „Then in accordance with our
customs I declare this meeting opened. Will you choose a moderator?“
Someone said, „Go ahead, Mary.“ When no one else spoke up, she said,
„Very well.“ She seemed indifferent to the honor and the group seemed to
share her casual attitude-an air of never any hurry, of freedom from the
tension of modern life.
„We are met as usual,“ she announced, „to discuss our welfare and that of
our sisters and brothers. Does any Family representative have a message
from his family? Or does anyone care to speak for himself?“
A man caught her eye and spoke up. „Ira Weatheral, speaking for the
Johnson Family. We’ve met nearly two months early. The trustees must have
a reason. Let’s hear it.“
She nodded and turned to a prim little man in the first row. „Justin . . . if you
will, please.“
The prim little man stood up and bowed stiffly. Skinny legs stuck out below
his badly-cut kilt. He looked and acted like an elderly, dusty civil servant, but
his black hair and the firm, healthy tone of his skin said that he was a man in
his prime. „Justin Foote,“ he said precisely, „reporting for the trustees. It has
been eleven years since the Families decided on the experiment of letting the
public know that there were, living among them, persons who possessed a
probable, life expectancy far in excess of that anticipated by the average
man, as well as other persons who had proved the scientific truth of such
expectation by having lived more than twice the normal life span of human
beings.“
Although he spoke without notes he sounded as if he were reading aloud a
prepared report. What he was saying they all knew but no one hurried him;
his audience had none of the febrile impatience so common elsewhere. „In
deciding,“ he droned on, „to reverse the previous long-standing policy of
silence and concealment as to the peculiar aspect in which we differ from the
balance of the human race, the Families were moved by several
considerations. The reason for the original adoption of the policy of
concealment should be noted:
„The first offspring resulting from unions assisted by the Howard Foundation
were born in 1875. They aroused no comment, for they were in no way
remarkable. The Foundation was an openly-chartered non-profit
corporation—„
On March 17, 1874, Ira Johnson, medical student, sat in the law offices of
Deems, Wingate, Alden, & Deems and listened to an unusual proposition. At
last he interrupted the senior partner. „Just a moment! Do I understand that
you are trying to hire me to marry one of these women?“The lawyer looked
shocked. „Please, Mr. Johnson. Not at all“ „Well, it certainly sounded like it.“