"Asimov, Isaac - Anniversary" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

bottle has to last all of us all night."

Moore said, "Mark insists on complete authenticity. I'm sur-
prised he doesn't expect me to climb out the window and human-fly
my way around the building."

"Well, now, that's an idea," said Brandon.

"Remember the last toast we made?" Shea held his empty glass
before him and intoned, " 'Gentlemen, I give you the year's supply of
good old H2O we used to have.' Three drunken bums when we
landed. Well, we were kids. I was thirty and I thought I was old.
And now," his voice was suddenly wistful, "they've retired me."

"Drink!" said Brandon. "Today you're thirty again, and we re-
member the day on the Silver Queen even if no one else does.
Dirty, fickle public."

Moore laughed. "What do you expect? A national holiday every
year with space ration and Jabra the ritual food and drink?"

"Listen, we're still the only men ever to survive a spaceship crash
and now iook at us. We're in oblivion."

"It's pretty good oblivion. We had a good time to begin with and
the publicity gave us a healthy boost up the ladder. We are doing
well, Mark. And so would Mike Shea be if he hadn't wanted to
return to space."

Shea grinned and shrugged his shoulder. "That's where I like to
be. I'm not sorry, either. What with the insurance compensation I
got, I have a nice piece of cash now to retire on."

Brandon said reminiscently, "The wreck set back Trans-space
Insurance a real packet. Just the same, there's still something missing.
You say 'Silver Queen' to anyone these days and he can only think
of Quentin, if he can think of anyone."

"Who?" said Shea.

"Quentin. Dr. Horace Quentin. He was one of the non-survivors on
the ship. You say to anyone, 'What about the three men woo sur-
vived?' and they'll just stare at you. 'Huh?' they'll say."

Moore said calmly, "Come, Mark, face it. Dr. Quentin was one
of the world's great scientists and we three are just three of the
world's nothings."

"We survived. We're still the only men on record to survive."