"Wilhelm, Kate - The Happiest Day Of Her Life" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilhelm Kate)

quote s are not easily inspired. They do not have the burning enthusiasm that you and other Tellu-rians, especially Kinnison, can develop. If you can inspire them, I will be much pleased and I will help you in every way to make your work
meaningful, too.\'94 \'93What shall I prepare for?\'94 Cloudd asked. He had heard rumors of what the Z-Academy was like from the Tellurian cadets, but he knew he could not believe any of the stories.
\par \'93Let me show you,\'94 Nadreck said. \'93Relax and follow my thoughts.\'94
\par Cloudd was suddenly in an utterly dark place. \'93You are underground in Palain VII,\'94 Nadreck explained. \'93Look with your eyes and feel with your senses so you can understand, but I will have to help you a bit.\'94 In Cloudd\rquote s mind\rquote
s eye, the scene grew bright with lights. \'93We have no lights, of course, but for you it will seem we have.\'94 The classrooms were interlocking, randomly joined boxes, like a mass of square-shaped soap bubbles. \'93They are solid on
three sides, but for you they will seem transparent.\'94 In the cells, sitting, moving, sometimes upside down or spread out on walls, were the cadets. Occasionallv one would flow down
from one half open side into another cell or would attenuate itself upward into a cell above. Everywhere there was equipment in strange designs, all transparent, and seeming to be as multidimensional as the Z-cadets themselves. \'93
The machinery is not that way, really, but I have made it easier for you to see.\'94
\par Cloudd could recognize the instructors by the silvery harnesses that passed around and in and out of their bodies. Most of the entities looked alike, varying only slightly in size, much
like Nadreck, obviously Palainians. But there were other monstrosities there, too. They were more strange and more grotesque than any entity Cloudd had ever encountered. The variety of Z-life impressed him. \'93
They are only a few of the billions from thousands of Z-types, I must humbly confess,\'94 Nadreck said. \'93We are lucky to get even a minimum for our recruiting purposes for our standards are high and the personal motivation is not at all
as natural as it is with you Tellurians.\'94
\par Through Nadreck\rquote s mind; Cloudd moved rapidly around the warren of rooms and came, for the first time, to a corridor that had separate doors. Behind the walls were a half dozen or so other lifeforms in their own environments, a couple of A\rquote
s, Q\rquote s, T\rquote s, and a VWZY and other mixed types. \'93Yes, they are \lquote cages,\rquote as you immediately think, but they do get out in pressure suits, and they do have recreational leaves when needed, and, please note, there
are already two Tellurians temporarily on the staff, so you will have companionship. One is of the female sex, so you may find a mate, who knows?\'94
\par \'93Fascinating,\'94 Cloudd said. \'93I\rquote m not interested in a wife.\'94 He thought of the bride he had almost had who had died because of the zwilnik pirates. \'93Besides, she\rquote s probably
interested in the other Tellurian considering the circumstances,\'94 Cloudd added, drily. \'93That is true,\'94 Nadreck said. \'93I was only suggesting that a new combination might make
new possibilities. Do you really find this picture I have shown you so depressing?\'94 \'93Well, let\rquote s say, it\rquote s an acceptable starting point. It will be new, it will be different, and it will lead to our renewed chase of the datadrones, won
\rquote t it, Nadreck?\'94
\par }\pard \s21\ql \fi340\li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {Cloudd, now brightening at the prospect of adventure, took less than a day to wrap up all his loose ends.
\par }\pard \s21\ql \fi340\li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0 {When evening had come, just after the final supper hour when the graduating class had sung their traditional songs in the mess hall, Cloudd went t
o his quarters for his last minute preparations and an early bedtime. The following day would be a full one for him. There would be the graduation. ceremonies in the morning and in the afternoon he would be
boarding the shuttle run to Palain VII, the last one for a month.
\par He was relaxed, his feet up on a cushion, listening to the life of the Academy, when he got the call to go to The Circus. His door had been open and the off-duty sounds from The Shaft came sharply to his ears. Five hundred feet up, from a
wing of the topmost, ninetieth floor, came the jubilant sounds of the noble Five-Year Men, those who would be graduating on the morrow. The Shaft was twenty feet square, with ninety balconies without railings, the
hollow core of the magnificent, dazzling chromium and glass tower of Wentworth Hall. The Shaft was filled with floating students in jump belts going and coming along its passageway, \lquote
but there was no noise from them, for the graduating cadets were ruling this week. Only they were allowed to be heard, and the joyous laughter and shouts and occasional, spontaneous renderings of \'93Our Patrol\'94 were as thrilling to the underclassmen,
who anticipated the day when they would be up in \lquote the Eyrie.
\par Cloudd felt the moment keenly. He hadn\rquote t been in the Hall for even one, short semester, but e had been caught up in its traditions. There was gnawing within him the desire to come
here and earn the Lens, but he knew that he could never, space-bitten veteran as he was, ever share in the youthful enthusiasm of these exceptional young men. He would never \'93drop free\'94
on commencement day. He would never, no never, as much as he dreamed it, step from the top floor for that glorious free-fall to the ground. The dizzying, breathtakingplunge like a human stone was a thousand feet straight down. Only a
graduating classman could take it timed to an exquisite finish with heels a fraction of an inch above the marble floor as inertia was snapped back on by the steady hand at the uniform belt.
\par \'93Lieutenant Cloudd,\'94 the \'93message had come. \'93Your presence is wanted in the visitor\rquote s lounge.\'94
\par When Cloudd walked down the steps of the amphitheater, through the staff section, he found the two glass doors leading into the Hub were wide open. Inside the Hub there were two dozen people, all Tell
urians, but when he raised his head and glanced at the enclosed sections, he saw that one was occupied. Through the reddish-blue, frozen haze of Ring-One he saw Nadreck. Nadreck! The Palainian should have been gone two days ago! \'93I\rquote
ve been waiting for you, Cloudd. You are not going to get much sleep tonight. You will be meeting with your friends now, but shortly we will be having a conference.\'94
\par Cloudd pressed -courteously through the outer line of people in service uniforms milling around and caught sight of the aging form of the most powerful man in Civilization, Port Admiral Hayes, the president of the Galactic Council!
\par Next to him was the chaplain general of the Patrol, Chon, in a black civilian suit! Who was that he was talking to? It was! The slim figure with the silver face was the robotoid woman
Lensman, Lalla Kallatra! A flush of mixed irritation and pleasure burned through him. That bizarre and disturbing Lalla Kallatra!
\par A greater shock, however, came from the recognition of the sturdy, broad-shouldered figure behind her. Impeccably dressed and groomed, his dark hair sweeping across his
broad forehead and his jutting chin thrusting from a stiff collar that glittered with braid and badges, it had to be. : . The ruggedly handsome face, stern and humorous at the same
time, turned toward him. Their eyes met. The man raised his hand in casual greeting. This was the person Cloudd most admired, the hero of the galaxies, Kimball Kinnison! Kimball Kinnison, himself!
\par Cloudd opened his mouth to speak a welcome, but the Galactic Coordinator had turned away to talk to someone else.
\par What in the devil was Kinnison doing here? Why was Nadreck still here? Wasn\rquote t that-?
\par Yes! That was LaForge, admiral of the Grand Fleet! Why all the notables?
\par \'93Hello, Lieutenant Cloudd,\'94 said a soft, but powerful voice.
\par Cloudd turned. The small, iron-gray beard and the florid face belonged to Chaplain General Chon, and Cloudd stammered out a greeting. The first thing Cloudd said, impulsively and to his embarrassment, was, \'93What is Kimball Kinnison doing here?\'94 \'93
He\rquote s come to see his son, Christopher. You know about the baby\rquote s training, of course?\'94 \'93Yes ... That is, I believe ... infans vitae ...
\par \'93That\rquote s how it\rquote s formally known, through most human cultures, that is. More popularly, it\rquote s the Better Baby Course that\rquote s what we call it. You ever had any experience with children, sons
or daughters, I mean, nieces or nephews, perhaps?\'94