"Judith Merril - Survival Ship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merril Judith)

was the Sur-vival, the greatest spaceship ever engineered. People didn't think of the Survival in
terms of miles-per--second; they said, "Sirius in fifteen years!"
From Sunday supplements to dignified periodicals, nearly every medium of communication on
Earth had carried the story. Brightly colored graphs made visibly simple the natural balance of lif
forces in which plants and animals could maintain a permanently fresh at-mosphere as well as a
self-perpetuating food supply. Lecture demonstrations and videocasts showed how centrifugal
force would replace gravity.
For months before take-off, the press and video followed the preparations with daily intimate
accounts. The world over, people knew the nicknames of pigs, calves, chickens, and crew
members—and even the proper botanical name of the latest minor masterpiece of the
biochemists, a hybrid plant whose root, stems, leaves, buds, blossoms, and fruit were all edible,
nourishing, and delicious, and which had the added ad-vantage of being the thirstiest CO2
drinker ever found.
The public knew the nicknames of the crew, and the proper name of the plant. But they never
found out, not even the half million who went to the field to see for themselves, the real identity
of the Twenty and Four who comprised the crew. They knew that thousands had applied; that it
was necessary to be single, under twenty-five, and a graduate engineer in order to get as far as
the physical exam; that the crew was mixed in sex, with the object of filling the specially
equipped nursery and raising a second generation for the return trip, if, as was hoped, a lengthy
stay on Sirius's planet proved possible. They knew, for that matter, all the small characteristics
and personal idiosyncrasies of the crew members—what they ate, how they dressed, their
favorite games, theaters, music, books, cigarettes, preachers, and political parties. There were
only two things the public didn't know, and couldn't find out: the real names of the mysterious
Twenty and Four, and the reason why those names were kept secret.
There were as many rumors as there were newsmen or radio reporters, of course. Hundreds of
explanations were offered at one time or another. But still nobody knew—nobody except the hal
hundred Very Important Persons who had planned the project, and the Twenty and Four
themselves.
And now, as the pinpoint of light faded out of the screens of televisors all over Earth, the linear
and rotary acceleration of the great ship began to adjust to the needs of the human body.
"Gravity" in the living quar-ters gradually approached Earth-normal. Tortured bodies relaxed in
the acceleration couches, where the straps had held them securely positioned through the initial
stage, so as to keep the blood and guts where they belonged, and to prevent the stomach from
following its natural tendency to emerge through the backbone. Finally, stunned brain cells awok
to the recognition that danger signals were no longer coming through from shocked, excited
tissues.
Captain Melnick was the first to awake. The row of lights on the board still glowed green.
Fumbling a little with the straps, Melnick watched tensely to see if the in-dicator lights were
functioning properly, sighing with relief as the one at the head of the board went dead, operated
automatically by the removal of body weight from the couch.
It was right—it was essential—for the captain to wake up first. If any of the men had showed
superior recuperative powers, it could be bad. Melnick thought wearily of the years and years
ahead during which this artificial dominance had to be maintained in defiance of all Earth
conditioning. But of course it would not be that bad, really. The crew had been picked for ability
to conform to the unusual circumstances; they were all without strong family ties or prejudices.
Habit would establish the new castes soon enough, but the beginning was crucial. Survival was
more than a matter of plant-animal balance and automatic gravity.
While the captain watched, another light went out, and then another. Officers, both of them.
Good. Three more lights died out together. Then men were beginning to awaken, and it was
reassuring to know that their own couch panels would show them that the officers had revived