"Ben Bova - The Kinsman Saga" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bova Ben)

"Got your license?"

"Not yet. I'll qualify at the Academy."

The pilot said nothing.

"I'm going in for astronaut training as soon as I gradu-
ate," Kinsman went on.

"Astronaut, huh? Well, I'd rather fly a real airplane.
Damned astronauts are like robots. Everything's done by
remote control for those rocket jocks."

"Not everything," Kinsman protested.

He could sense the pilot shaking his head inside his

helmet. "Hell, I'll bet they even have machines to do their
screwing for them."

It was an old house atop Russian Hill. Victorian clap-
board, unpretentious yet big enough to hold a hockey rink on
its ground floor. The view of the Bay was spectacular. The
people who lived in this part of San Francisco had the quiet
power to see that none of the new office towers and high-rise
hotels obscured their vistas.

Nea! McGrath opened the door for Kinsman. His normal
scowl warmed into a half-bitter smile.

"Hello, Chet."

"Neal. I didn't expect to see you here."

"He needed somebody to take charge of things for him.
This has hit him pretty hard."

McGrath reminded Kinsman of a Varangian Guard: a
tall, broad-shouldered, red-haired Viking who hovered by his
Emperor's side to protect him from assassins. His ice-blue
eyes looked much older than his years. He was barely twenty
months older than Kinsman, but his suspicious scowl and low,
growly voice gave him an air of inner experience, of wariness,
that strangely made people trust and rely on him. Kinsman
had known him since McGrath had been the ten-year-old son
who helped their gardener mow their lawn. Now McGrath
was his father's personal assistant, and was being groomed for
one of the family's seats in the House of Representatives. He
would be a senator one day, they all agreed.