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

they were crazy enough to want to leave Earth forever, but sane enough to
disguise this fundamental madness, in fact defend it as pure rationality,
scientific curiosity or something of the sort—that seemed to be the only
acceptable reason for wanting to go, and so naturally they claimed to be
the most scientifically curious people in history! But of course there had
to be more to it than that. They had to be alienated somehow, alienated
and solitary enough to not care about leaving everyone they had known
behind forever—and yet still connected and social enough to get along
with all their new acquaintances in Wright Valley, with every member of
the tiny village that the colony would become. Oh, the double binds were
endless! They were to be both extraordinary and extra ordinary, at one
and the same time. An impossible task, and yet a task that was an obstacle
to their heart's greatest desire; making it the very stuff of anxiety, fear,
resentment, rage. Conquering all those stresses. . . .
But that too was part of the test. Michel could not help but observe
with great interest. Some failed, cracked in one way or another. An
American thermal engineer became increasingly withdrawn, then
destroyed several of their rovers and had to be forcibly restrained and
removed. A Russian pair became lovers, and then had a falling out so
violent that they couldn't stand the sight of each other, and both had to be
dropped. This melodrama illustrated the dangers of romance going awry,
and made the rest of them very cautious in this regard. Relationships still
developed, and by the time they left Antarctica they had had three
marriages, and these lucky six could consider themselves in some sense
"safe"; but most of them were so focused on getting to Mars that they put
these parts of their lives on hold, and if anything conducted discreet
friendships, in some cases hidden from almost everyone, in other cases
merely kept out of the view of the selection committees.
And Michel knew he was seeing only the tip of the iceberg. He knew
that critical things were happening in Antarctica, out of his sight.
Relationships were having their beginnings; and sometimes the beginning
of a relationship determines how the rest of it will go. In the brief hours of
daylight, one of them might leave the camp and hike out to Lookout Point;
and another follow; and what happened out there might leave its mark
forever. But Michel would never know.
And then they left Antarctica, and the team was chosen. There were
fifty men and fifty women: thirty-five Americans, thirty-five Russians, and
thirty miscellaneous international affliates, fifteen invited by each of the
two big partners. Keeping such perfect symmetries had been difficult, but
the selection committee had persevered.
The lucky ones flew to Cape Canaveral or Baikonur, to ascend to
orbit. At this point they both knew each other very well and did not know
each other at all. They were a team, Michel thought, with established
friendships, and a number of group ceremonies, rituals, habits, adn
tendencies; and among those tendencies was an instinct to hide, to play a
role and disguise their real selves. Perhaps this was simply the definition
of village life, of social life. But it seemed to Michel that it was worse
than that; no one had ever before had to compete so strenuously to join a
village; and the resulting radical division between public life and private
life was new, and strange. Engrained in them now was a certain