"Brin, David - Earth (UC)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brin David)

of the autumn leaves. Then, as now, it had struck him
just how temporary everything seemed . . . the foliage, the
drifting clouds, the patient mountains . . . the world.
"You know," George Button said slowly, still contemplating
the peaceful view outside, "back when the American
and Russian empires used to face each other at the brink of
nuclear war, this was where people in the Northern Hemisphere
dreamed about fleeing to. Were you aware of that,
Lustig? Every time there was a crisis, airlines suddenly
overbooked with "vacation" trips to New Zealand. People
must have thought this the ideal spot to ride out a holocaust.

"And that didn't change with the Rio Treaties, did it?
Big War went away, but then came the cancer plague, greenhouse
heat, spreading deserts . . . and lots of little wars of
course, over an oasis here, a river there.
"All the time though, we Kiwis still felt lucky. Our rains didn't abandon us. Our fisheries didn't die.
"Now all those illusions are gone. There's no safe place
any longer."
The big man turned to look at Alex, and despite his
words there was no loathing in the tycoon-engineer's eyes.
Nor even bleakness. Only what Alex took to be a heavy
resignation.
"I wish I could hate you, Lustig, but you've obviously
subcontracted that job quite ably yourself. And so you deprive
me even of revenge."
"I'm sorry," Alex apologized sincerely.
Button nodded. He closed his eyes and took a deep
breath.
"All right then, let's get to work. If Tane, father of the
Maori, could go into the bowels of the Earth to battle monsters,
who are we then to refuse?"
D For more than two decades, we at The Mother have maintained
our famed list of Natural Tranquility Reserves--rare
places on Earth where one might sit for hours and hear no
sounds but those of wilderness.
Our thirty million worldwide subscribers have led in vigilantly
protecting these reserves. All it takes is a single thoughtless
act, by air traffic planners for instance, to convert a precious
sanctuary into yet another noisy, noisome place, ruined by the
raucous clamor of humanity.
Unfortunately, even so-called "conservation-oriented" officials
still seem obsessed by archaic, TwenCen views of preservation.
They think it's enough to save a few patches of forest
here and there from development, from chemical leaks or acid
rain. Even when they succeed, however, they celebrate by
opening hiking trails and encouraging ever higher quotas of
sightseers, who predictably leave litter, trample root systems,
cause erosion, and worst of all jabber at the top of their lungs in
gushing excitement over "being one with nature."