"Niven, Larry - Building Harlequin's Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

"But... but..." She was gone, pulling farther ahead as the garden's spin-induced gravity increased near the equator. She crouched low, reaching for speed, her legs pushing out in long hard strokes.
He followed, relaxing into the rush of air, bent low, whipping through the savannah's browns and olive-greens, hitting the edge of the jungle and the deeper greens. Bright orange and yellow flowers lined the path. They sped through, going too fast to talk.
They came close to full gravity. The spiral path was smoother here. Ahead of him Kyu leaned hard over. She was preparing to veer onto a side path.
Gabriel prepared for the sharp tight turn, crouched lower, head almost on his knees. Kyu was still ahead of him, and he watched her take the turn perfectly, not even hobbling, using the path's entire radius. He struggled to execute as well, but had to put his hand down for balance at the apex, just a short touch, but enough to concede her the victory of a more perfect run.
They let the speed drag from them as they skated by the huge river wall. Honeysuckle vines hugged the wall, rich and sickly sweet smelling. Benches and grass made the river wall a park. The jogging and skating path they were on was designed for high-gee workouts, and they had to dodge three sets of runners.
Kyu suddenly braked and plopped on a wide expanse of grass.
Gabriel landed next to her, laughing. "Nice turn."
"Thanks. Will you help me teach Rachel to use the Library?"
"What happens if it goes wrong?" he asked softly.
"Do you trust me?"
"Usually."
"So lighten up." She rose, graceful with years of practice, every bead and stitch of clothing falling into place. "Ready to go back?"
They started the long skate back up, gravity now a drag, speed increasing as spin decreased near the aft pole. Gabriel's thighs burned. He was the first one to argue for education and some autonomy for the Children. So why did it disturb him when Kyu not only agreed but pushed his own agenda further than he would?




Chapter 16: Meets and Bounds


Ma Liren sat in the main boardroom. She drummed her fingers, looked at the clock on the wall, tried not to fidget. Captain Hunter sat at the head of the table; Liren was at the foot. A sign glowed above the captain's head, proclaiming "Council of Humanity" in large black letters. The wall sported two nano-paint pictures that showed scenes from Sol system, switching between the verdant greens of the restored South American jungles, soft azure and deep green seascapes, and the angled blacks and bright lights of Earth orbital housing. Ghosts. All gone. It reminded her how very alone they were, how small, how vulnerable.
Kyu Ho glided to a seat next to the captain. Liren repressed a grimace at Kyu's revealing blue and purple outfit. Ever since the tenting came off at Aldrin, Kyu had stayed warm as much as half the time, and Liren was sure she spent half of that time self-decorating. For about the thousandth time, Liren wished for uniforms. They had left Earth uniformed like the crew of a Mars mission, but so much about Sol system tasted so bad to the starfarers that the captain had allowed uniforms to be recycled as soon as they flew past Neptune's orbit.
On that day he had proclaimed them free of all Earth influences and able to build their own society. Of course, they were supposed to sleep through a long journey and then become civilians at Ymir. Stage magic: it took more than removing symbols to build a new society. He was a good captain, by and large, but he didn't understand the relationship of strong symbols to discipline. She did. Uniforms should have been reinstated as soon as they discovered they were marooned.
Liren watched Kyu laugh at something the captain said, Kyu's graceful fingers twining like snakes in her purple hair. Everyone liked Kyu.
Gabriel followed Kyu in and sat opposite her. He was thinner from so much time on Selene, tanned, and coolly collected; even his walk implied physical grace. His attraction to the Children grated. Maybe he needed it. He ran much of the Selene project, under Clare, who let him run free. Clare preferred the social life of John Glenn to the hardships of real terra-forming. It was rare to see Gabriel on John Glenn; he spent way too much time on Selene. He went cold on his own from time to time, ensuring he stayed young. Liren was pleased to see him, even if he had brought a Moon Born to her ship.
It was time. Everyone warm that mattered was in the room.
Captain Hunter cleared his throat loudly, and the room quieted. "I'm calling the High Council Meeting of Departure Date 60,269 to order. We have a quorum of High Council present, including myself, Ma Liren, Kyu Ho, and Clare Abramson. Rich Smith is off-shift. Gabriel Aaron is an invited guest. I'm turning the meeting over to Ma Liren as Rule of Law for the first few agenda items."
Liren cleared her throat, looking around the table, catching the eyes of each person. "I have two things to discuss," Liren said, "training the Moon Born, and ensuring our safety. So let's start with the rules for Rachel. I understand you chose to bring her here to learn about terraforming, background for leading crews on Selene." Liren didn't like that, but it was better than sending more Council to Selene. "Rachel's training will be in the garden. I see no reason for her to go anywhere else besides the garden and her room."
Kyu objected immediately. "Some of her lessons need the magic rooms."
Liren looked around. No one else seemed bothered by the idea. She didn't see enough support to refuse Kyu. "You may escort her there and back. But there is no reason for her to learn much more about John Glenn.
Her focus needs to be on learning what she came to learn, and getting back to the surface and doing work." Liren turned to Kyu. "How long do you expect Rachel to be here?"
"At least a Selene year," Kyu said.
Liren sat up straighter, looking Kyu in the eyes. "What exactly does she need to learn here?"
Captain Hunter surprised Liren by speaking up. "It may be she needs to learn about us, as well as horticulture and terraforming engineering. You don't make a leader by pasting a label on her forehead."
Liren frowned. She had expected his support. "She'll always have a Council boss. Kyu, see that she gets what she needs. I want to meet with her from time to time."
Kyu's eyes were slits, and her lips were tight, but she maintained silence. There might not be uniforms, but there was tradition. In an open High Council meeting, she had to show teamwork for the record. Liren allowed the silence to speak for Kyu, and then continued. "So Rachel can stay in her room, go to the garden, and be escorted to and from magic rooms. Anything else should come back before this Council."
Kyu nodded, not bothering to look as if she were happy about it.
Liren looked around. She hadn't won much. If it were up to her, the damned Moon Born would stay on Selene. The Selene project wasn't her direct responsibility—just the John Glenn. But leadership required consent; she had to compromise to keep her power. The girl probably wouldn't amount to much, anyway.
"Now," Liren said, "about Andrew Hain." She looked directly at Gabriel. "He is clearly a danger. Why not simply bring Andrew up here and ice him? That was the choice with Trill Hain, years ago."
Gabriel frowned, steepling his fingers, buying a few moments to frame his thoughts. "We talked about that. It would not punish Andrew. What we've done with Andrew will teach. The rest of them will see him living among them, needing to do menial work to eat, cut away from all access to data. He can't even get basic daily stats. If the others see that, they will know that we can make hard choices. Andrew will be the example. We decided that was less risky than the mystery of a disappearance."
Kyu broke in. "We can't put all of our problems on ice. We must solve some of them."
Liren weighed choices. Accepting Gabriel's answer meant his choice would be seen as right. Could she make it play into her plans? Finally she said, "All right. John Glenn is a bad choice for a prison, and icing criminals is giving out extended life as a reward for vandalism."
The captain quietly said, "There is precedent."
"No," said Kyu. "The disaffected are not in prison—they didn't wake up sane, so we iced them again. We will find a tool to heal them when we get to Ymir."
Liren continued. "The situation with Andrew is difficult, and we should have seen it coming. There will be dangerous behavior among these Children. We could handle a few, but we cannot bring every case here and ice them. Besides, it's the wrong use for limited cryogenic resources. We must include a detention facility in the plan. By the time we have a population of five thousand Moon Born, we need a place we can put unruly ones. I'd like the terraforming team to bring back plans for a detention facility in the next six months. And I want to begin a discussion about a police force."
The room fell completely silent. Kyu doodled on her pad, not looking up. Captain Hunter waited, watching the High Council. Gabriel looked like he was biting his tongue. Had she pushed them too far?
Kyu said, "We must not develop an adversarial relationship with the Moon Born Children."
"So what relationship do we want?" Liren snapped. "We must be in control of this project."
Kyu's words sputtered out one at a time through clenched teeth. "Teach them to be like us. Give them our values, positive reasons to respect us. Let them police themselves, perhaps."
"That's dangerous," Liren snapped.