"Ben Bova - Jupiter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bova Ben)

"Me? You want me to spy on them?"

"We need to know what they are doing- and why they are not reporting their activities, not even to the IAA."

"But I'm no spy. I'm a scientist myself!"

Beech's solemn expression deepened into a scowl. "Mr. Archer, I'm sure that you assume that you can be a scientist and a Believer, both at the same time."

"Yes! There's no fundamental conflict between science and faith."

"Perhaps. But out there at the research station in Jupiter orbit, scientists are doing something that they don't want us to know about. And we must find out what they're up to!"

"But . . . why me?"

"God works in mysterious ways, my boy. You have been chosen. Accept that fact."

"It's going to ruin my life," Grant argued. "Four years away from my wife, four years wasted out there doing God knows what. I'll never get my doctorate!"

Beech nodded again. "It's a sacrifice, I realize that. But it's a sacrifice you should be glad to offer up to heaven."

"That's easy for you to say. I'm the one whose life is being turned upside-down."

"Let me explain something to you," Beech said, tapping the paper-strewn desk with a fingertip. "Do you have any idea of what the world was like before the New Morality and similar organizations gained political power across most of the world?"

Grant squirmed slightly in his chair. "There were lots of problems . . ."

Beech spat out a single, sharp "Hah!" His eyes were the color of a lion's, Grant realized. He was staring at Grant the way a lion watches a

"I mean, economically, socially-"

"The world was a cesspool!" Beech snapped. "Corruption everywhere. No moral leadership at all. The politicians gave in to every whim that any pressure group expressed. They took polls and strove for popularity, while the people's real problems festered."

"The gap between the rich and poor got wider," Grant recited, re-culling his high school lessons.

"And that led to terrorism, wars, crime," Beech agreed, his voice rising slightly. "Civil wars all over the world. Terrorists with biological weapons."

"The Calcutta Disaster," said Grant.

"Three million people killed."

"And Sao Paolo."

"Another two million."

Grant had seen the videos in school: piles of dead bodies in the streets, emergency workers in space suits to protect them from the lethal biological agents in the air.

"Governments were paralyzed, unable to act," Beech said firmly. "Until the spirit of God was returned to the corridors of power."

"It was something of a miracle, wasn't it?" Grant muttered.