"3 Star Brothers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bova Ben)

The energy screens that had ended humankind's nightmare fear of nuclear holocaust could also serve more romantic purposes, Stoner mused A gift from the stars From my star brother

He felt no need of sleep Instead, as he watched the stately motion of the stars arcing across the dark sky he murmured the command that turned on the record player, keeping it so low that only he could hear it The muted, moody opening of Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No 8 filled the room faintly, violins and cellos dark and sensuous

The best invention the human race has ever made, Stoner thought The symphony orchestra And so typically human a hundred virtuosos voluntarily submerging their individuality to produce something that no one of them could produce alone

A meteor flashed across the night sky, silent and bright for the span of an eyeblink Stoner sank back on his pillows and clasped his hands behind his head, content to he beside his

sleeping wife and wait for the dawn while the orchestra played for him.

Jo murmured drowsily, "Go to sleep."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't think it was loud enough to bother you."

"Big day tomorrow."

"I know. My surprise party."

She bolted up to a sitting position, suddenly wide awake. "Who told you?"

"You did." He laughed softly. In the shadowy darkness, Jo's naked body was washed by the pale moonlight, her skin glowing warm. He could not see the expression on her face, so he reached up and pushed back her shining dark hair.

"The household staff has been fussing and making phone calls for a month or more. You cut short your stay in Washington to come home in time for tomorrow. And you just told me tomorrow's going to be a big day."

Jo leaned over him. "You're the only one in this house who knows how to keep a secret."

"I have no secrets from you, Jo. You know that, don't you?"

Nodding, she began to tell him of her conversation in the limousine with Hsen and Kruppmann Stoner listened patiently, quietly until she finished.

"About what I expected," he said at last. "They're not interested in the global picture. They only see their own needs."

"Their own selfish interests."

"They just don't understand what's going on. Maybe they don't want to understand. They want the power to control events, to keep themselves at the top of the heap. They don't understand that it's not a zero-sum game anymore. The world's economy is completely interlinked, it's not even just a global economy, not if you consider the Moon and the asteroids and the factories in Earth orbit If the Third World gets richer, we all get richer. That's what they don't see."

"They're willing to commit murder," Jo said

Stoner gave a bitter little laugh. "If they're willing to bank-

roll wars and insurrections, what's the murder of one man to them'"

"But it's you they want to kill'"

"They don't know who I am," Stoner said, "and it won't be easy for them to find out Especially when I have such an excellent Mata Hari in their camp "

"I can't protect you forever, Keith There's no such thing as absolute security "

"I'm more concerned about you," he said "How serious is their move to take over Vanguard'"