"Gordon R. Dickson - Analog - The Far Call Part" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

Warner shook his head.
 "I don't see how you can right now, Jen," Warner said. "He's on his way to Philadelphia for the
William Penn Memorial Dedication. You'll see him tonight at his reception, as scheduled. But that's a
touchy moment. He won't want to talk to you then."
"I see," said Jen.
"Yes. I'm sorry." Warner Rethe's oblong face under its balding middle-aged skull looked out at him
from the three-dimensional depths of the holographic v-screen with intent interest. "Want to tell me about
it?"
"I can," Jen answered. "But I'd rather talk to Himself. It's something calling for weight."
"As I say," said Warner, "I'm sorry. I don't quite know how I could get you through to him before
tomorrow morning."
"But that's almost launch time. That'll be too late to change things."
"I'm sorry."
"All right, then," said Jen. "It's the Marsnauts. All of them, but my message was from our own man.
Tad Hansard's upset. He says each country concerned has been fighting so hard for as many experiments
of their own people as possible, to be included in the flight plan, that the experiment load's too heavy
now. It's so heavy it could be a danger to the mission,"
"Well, that sort of infighting's to be expected," said Warner.
"Tad says it's got to the point where the mission as a whole's in danger," Jen said. "He told me so just
now, at the lunch the Marsnauts just gave us all, at the Operations and Checkout Building."
"In what wayтАФdangerous?" Warner's tone was instinctively cautious.
"The experiments are the icing on the cake, Tad says." Jen had the feeling that he was pushing against
a door already closed, and a little desperation leaked into his voice in spite of his determination to be
calm. "The important thing is to get to Mars, and back, safely. If the 'nauts start having to put the
experiments to be done along the way ahead of that, it may mean bad trouble up there."
"I see," said Warner. He hesitated for a second. "Well, I suppose he knows what he's talking about.
You should tell him, though, we've no control over the actions of the representatives of other
countriesтАФeither their Marsnauts or their Deputy Ministers."
"He knows that."
There was a second of silence.
"Yes," Warner said. "Well, thenтАФI don't really see what else can be done."
Jen let a little of his anger out.
"You know damn well what can be done!" he said. "And who can do it!"
"Hm-m-m," said Warner thoughtfully. "It's not for me to say, of courseтАФ"
"Cut it out, Warn! We're scrambled, aren't we? This is Jen! Remember me from my days in the press
corps?"
"Not for me to say," repeated Warner, unchangingly. "What looks simple from a narrow view isn't
always so from the whole spectrum. And a chief executive has to think in terms of the full spectrum, all
the time. Sometimes a word can be said at the right moment to get results. Sometimes . . . it simply isn't
the moment to say the word."
"Warn," said Jen, grimly, "I want to talk to the President before tomorrow morning. That's an official
request from me, as our Undersecretary of Science for the Development of Space, to our Chief
Executive."
"Right," said Warner, calmly. "Of course. I'll get on it right away and do the best I can."
Jen sagged in his chair.
"Warn," he said. "For God's sake, Warn! It's the future of six nationsтАФof the whole worldтАФbound
up in the success of this supposedly cooperative mission!"
"You know I appreciate that, Jen. So does the President," said Warner. "Make sure the VIP
Message Center can locate you at any time. I'll call you just as soon as I have some kind of word.
Goodbye."