"Robert A. Heinlein - To Sail Beyond the Sunset" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

Pixel was helpful. (Sometimes he is not - a cat of firm opinions.) He sniffed
the proffered finger, then licked it.
The doctor smiled indulgently, then withdrew his finger when Pixel decided
that the ritual kiss had gone on long enough. ‚He’s a fine boy, that one.
Where did you find him?’
‚On Tertius.’
‚Where’s Ontershus? Canada? Hmm, you say you have a money problem.
What’ll you take for Pixel, cash in hand? My little girl would love him:
(I didn’t swindle him. I could have but I didn’t. Pixel can’t be sold - he can’t
stay sold - because he can’t be locked up. For him, stone walls do not a
prison make.)
‚Oh, I’m sorry! I can’t sell him; he’s not mine. He’s a member of the family of
my grandson - one of my grandsons - and his wife. But Colin and Hazel
would never sell him. They can’t sell him; they don’t own him. No one owns
him; Pixel is a free citizen:
‚So? Then perhaps I can bribe him. How about ir, Pixel? Lots of horse liver,
fresh fish, cat nibbles, all you want. Plenty of friendly girl cats around and
we’ll leave your spark plugs right where they are. Well?’
Pixel gave the restless wiggle that means ‚Let me down,’ so I did. He sniffed
the doctor’s legs, then brushed against him. ‚Nnnow?’ he enquired.
Dr Ridpath said to me, ‚You should have accepted my offer. I seem to have
acquired a cat.’
‚I wouldn’t bet on it, Doctor. Pixel likes to travel but he always comes back to
my grandson Colin. Colonel Colin Campbell. And his wife Hazel.’
For the first time Dr Ridpath really looked at me. ‚“Grandson.“ „Colonel.“ Miss,
you’re hallucinating.’
(I suddenly realized how it looked to him. Before I left Tertius, Ishtar had
given me a booster treatment-it had been fifty-two years - and Galahad had
given me a cosmetic refresher and had overdone it. Galahad likes ‚em
young, especially redheads - he keeps my twin daughters permanent
teenagers, and now we three look like triplets. Galahad cheats. Except for
Theodore, Galahad is my favorite husband, but I shan’t let anyone find out.)
‚Yes, I must be hallucinating,’ I agreed. ‚I don’t know where I am, I don’t know
what day this is, I don’t know what became of my clothes or my money or my
purse, and I don’t know how I got here... save that I was in an irrelevancy bus
for New Liverpool and there was an accident of some sort. If Pixel were not
still with me, I would wonder if I were me.’
Dr Ridpath reached down; Pixel allowed himself to be picked up. ‚What was
that bus you mentioned?’
‚A Burroughs shifter. I was on Tellus Tertius at Boondock on time line two at
Galactic year 2149, or Gregorian 4368 if you like that better. I was scheduled
for New Liverpool in time line two, where I was to base for a field trip. But
something went wrong.’
‚Ah, so. Hmm. And you have a grandson who is a colonel?’
‚Yes, sir.’
‚And how old are you?’
‚That depends on how you count it, Doctor. I was born on Earth in time line
two of the Fourth of July, 1882. I lived there until 1982, one century minus
two weeks, whereupon I moved to Tertius and was rejuvenated. That was
fifty-two years ago by my personal calendar. I’ve had a booster just recently,