"Robert A. Heinlein - Space Family Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

Meade said, ‘Souldn’t let him beat you so often, Hazel. It’s not good for him.’
‘Meade, for the ninth time, quit turning your head!’
‘Sorry, Mother. Let’s take a rest.’
Grandmother snorted. ‘You don’t think I let him beat me on purpose, do you?
You play him; I am giving up the game for good.’
Meade answered just as her mother spoke; at the same time Pollux chucked
the boy back at Castor. ‘You - take him. I want to eat.’ The child squealed. Mr
Stone shouted, ‘QUIET!’
‘And stay quiet,’ he went on, while unfastening the throat mike. ‘How is a man
to make a living in all this racket? This episode has to be done over
completely, sent to New York. tomorrow, shot, canned, distributed, and on
the channels by the end of the week. It’s not possible.’
‘Then don’t do it,’ Dr Stone answered serenely. ‘Or work in your room - it’s
soundproof.’
Mr Stone turned to his wife. ‘My dear, I’ve explained a thousand times that I
can’t work in there by myself. I get no stimulation. I fall asleep.’
Castor said, ‘How’s it going, Dad? Rough?’
‘Well, now that you ask me, the villains are way ahead and I don’t see a
chance for our heroes.’
‘I thought of a gimmick while Pol and I were out. You have this young kid you
introduced into the story slide into the control room while everybody is
asleep. They don’t suspect him, see? - he’s too young so they haven’t put
him in irons. Once in the control room - ‘ Castor stopped and looked
crestfallen. ‘No, it won’t do; he’s too young to handle the ship. He wouldn’t
know how.’
‘Why do you say that?’ his father objected. ‘All I have to do is to plant that he
has had a chance to. . . let me see -‘ He stopped; his face went blank. ‘No,’
he said presently.


7
 ‘No good, huh?’
‘Eh? What? It smells - but I think I can use it. Stevenson did something like it
in Treasure Island - and I think he got it from Homer. Let’s see; if we - ‘ He
again went into his trance.
Pollux had opened the warming cupboard Castor dropped his baby brother
on the floor and accepted a dinner pack from his twin. He opened it. ‘Meat
pie again,’ he stated bleakly and sniffed it. ‘Synthetic, too.’
‘Say that over again and louder,’ his sister urged him. ‘I’ve been trying for
weeks to get Mother to subscribe to another restaurant.’
‘Don’t talk, Meade,’ Dr Stone answered. ‘I’m modelling your mouth.’
Grandmother Stone snorted. ‘You youngsters have it too easy. When I came
to the Moon there was a time when we had nothing but soya beans and
coffee powder for three months.’
Meade answered, ‘Hazel, the last time you told us about that it was two
months and it was tea instead of coffee.’
‘Young lady, who’s telling this lie? You, or me?’ Hazel stood up and came
over to her twin grandsons. ‘What were you two doing on Dan Ekizian’s lot?’
Castor looked at Pollux, who looked back. Castor said cautiously, ‘Who told
you that we were there?’