"Kim Stanley Robinson - Mars 2 - Blue Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

shake her hand, grinning enthusiastically. The Kakaze: they were, she had to
admit to herself, the wing of the Reds for which she felt the least sympathy.
Angry ex-Terrans or idealistic young natives from the tents, their stone
eyeteeth dark in their smiles, their eyes glittering as they got this chance
to meet her, as they spoke of kami, the need for purity, the intrinsic value
of rock, the rights of the planet, and so on. In short, fanatics. She shook
their hands and nodded, trying not to let her discomfort show.
Inside the restaurant Kasei and Dao were sitting by a window, drinking dark
beer. Everything in the room stopped on Ann's entrance, and it took a while
for people to be introduced, for Kasei and Dao to welcome her with hugs, for
meals and conversations to resume. They got her something to eat from the
kitchen. The restaurant workers came out to meet her; they were Kakaze as
well. Ann waited until they were gone and people had gone back to their
tables, feeling impatient and awkward. These were her spiritual children, the
media always were saying; she was the original Red; but in truth they made her
uncomfortable.
Kasei, in excellent spirits, as he had been ever since the revolution began,
said "We're going to bring down the cable in about a week."
"Oh you are!" Ann said. "Why wait so long?"
Dao missed her sarcasm. "It's a matter of warning people, so they have time to
get off the equator." Though normally a sour man, today he was as cheery as
Kasei.
"And off the cable too?"
"If they feel like it. But even if they evacuate it and give it to us, it's
still coming down."
"How? Are those really rocket launchers out there?"
"Yes. But those are there in case they come down and try to retake Sheffield.
As for bringing down the cable, breaking it here at the base isn't the way to
do it."
"The control rockets might be able to adjust to disruptions at the bottom,"
Kasei explained. "Hard to say what would happen, really. But a break just
above the areosyn-chronous point would decrease damage to the equator, and
keep New Clarke from flying off as fast as the first one did. We want to
minimize the drama of this, you know, avoid any martyrs we can. Just the
demolition of a building, you know. Like a building past its usefulness."
"Yes," Ann said, relieved at this sign of good sense. But it was curious how
hearing her idea expressed as someone else's plan disturbed her. She located
the main source of her concern: "What about the others-the greens? What if
they object?"
"They won't," Dao said.
"They are!" Ann said sharply.
Dao shook his head. "I've been talking to Jackie. It may be that some of the
greens are truly opposed to it, but her group is just saying that for public
consumption, so that they look moderate to the Terrans, and can blame the
dangerous stuff on radicals out of their control."
"On us," Ann said.
They both nodded. "Just like with Burroughs," Kasei said with a smile.
Ann considered it. No doubt it was true. "But some of them are genuinely
opposed. I've been arguing with them about it, and it's no publicity stunt."
"Uh-huh," Kasei said slowly.