"Pohl, Frederik - The High Test" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pohl Frederick)

I didn't know what to thank you for!) Anyway, merry Christmas one more time
from-
Jim Paul
2213 12 30 O2001JGT
Dear Mom:
Another day, another kilobuck. My first student today was a sixteen-year-old
kid. One of those smart-alecky ones, if you know what I mean. (But you probably
don't, because you certainly never had any kids like that!) His father was a
combat pilot in the Cassiopeian navy, and the kid drove that way, too. That
wasn't the worst of it. He'd heard about Torklemiggen. When I tried to explain
to him that he had to learn how to go slow before he could go fast, he really
let me have it. Didn't I know his father said the Fomalhautians were treacherous
enemies of the Cassiopeian way of life'? Didn't I know his father said they were
just waiting their chance to invade? Didn't I know-
Well, I could take just so much of this fresh kid telling me what I didn't know.
So I told him he wasn't as lucky as Torklemiggen. He only had one brain, and if
he didn't use all of it to fly this ship, I was going to wash him out. That shut
him up pretty quick, you bet!
But it didn't get much better, because later on I had this fat lady student who
just oughtn't to get a license for anything above a skateboard. Forty-six years
old, and she's never driven before-but her husband's got a job asteroid mining,
and she wants to be able to bring him a hot lunch every day. I hope she's a
better cook than a pilot! Anyway, I was trying to put her at ease, so she
wouldn't pile us up into a comet nucleus or something, so I was telling her
about the kid. She listened, all sympathy-you know, how teenage kids were
getting fresher every year-until I mentioned that what we were arguing about was
my Fomalhautian student. Well, you should have heard her then! I swear, Mom, I
think these Cassiopeians are psychotic on the subject. 1 wish Torklemiggen were
here so I could talk to him about it-somebody said the reason CAS 43-G put the
suppressor system in in the first place was to keep them from invading, if you
can imagine that! But he had to go home for a few days. Business, he said. Said
he'd be back next week to finish his lessons.
Tonda Aguilar is almost finished, too. She'll solo in a couple of days. She was
my last student today-I mean yesterday actually, because it's way after midnight
now. I had her practicing zero-G approaches to low-mass asteroids, and I
happened to mention that I was feeling a little lonesome. It turned out she was,
too, so I surprised myself by asking her if she was doing anything tomorrow
night, and she surprised me by agreeing to a date. It's not romance, Mom, so
don't get your hopes up. It's just that she and I seem to be the only beings in
this whole system who know that tomorrow is New Year's Eve!
Love,
Jim Paul
2214 01 02 2330UGT
Dear Mom:
I got your letter this morning, and I'm glad that your leg is better. Maybe next
time you'll listen to Dad and me! Remember, we both begged you to go for a
brand- new factory job when you got it, but you kept insisting a rebuilt would
be just as good. Now you see. It never pays to try to save money on your health!

I'm sorry if I told you about my clients without giving you any idea of what