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

said Ambedkar.
"That might rather put us on the defensive in later dealings about the mission if he did not stay," said
Guenther. "A problem."
He looked at Varisov.
"What do you think, Sergei?"
 "There's always cause for concern," said Varisov, "particularly when dealing with the American mind.
Of all such capitalist organsтАФno offense, my friendsтАФthe American mind is the most self-centered and
therefore the most unpredictable. But I can't believe even an American President would risk his country's
image by obviously shouldering the representatives of other nations aside in that fashion."
"But we should talk about the possibility," said Guenther.
"Oh yes," said Varisov. "By all means we should talk about it . . ."
In his own suite, down the hall from the lounge area, Jen was once more speaking to Warner Rethe
over a scrambled circuit.
"The point is," Jen was saying patiently, "can I see him when he comes in for the reception, tonight?"
"Not a chance," said Warner. "This is strictly a stage appearance, you ought to know that. The last
thing a President can do in a case like this is give the press an excuse to show him being partisan toward
you or Tad Hansard. Damn it, Jen, he's leaning over backward just to avoid any appearance like that. A
newspaperman like you ought to understand the angles."
."Look," said Jen, "this does concern everybody on the mission, all the countries, every 'nautтАФnot
just Tad. Tad knows the work schedule's too heavy with tests, particularly on the outgoing legтАФ"
"There's a reason for that; and you know it as well as I do," said Warner. "The mission's going to be
at its biggest as news during the first few weeks. That's when we want the 'nauts reporting they've just
done this experiment that Hamamuri of Nagasaki wanted done, and that experiment for Muller at Bonn
University, and so on . . ."
"All right. All right," said Jen, keeping his voice down. "But the point is, there's too much. There's not
enough reserve time left. Tad's point is, what if they get up there and have to skip some of the
experiments, or some of the tests get bungled because they're trying to work too fast? All he wants is for
the President to drop a word to the Deputy Ministers of the other countries, hereтАФand this late, he's the
only one who can do itтАФso that everybody concerned agrees to cut their list by one experiment, or two.
There's more potential dynamite in letting them go off this way, than there is in facing the thing now."
"That's only Tad's opinion," Warner said. "Besides, if he's so sure that's the case, why can't he just
handle the paring down of the experiment list once they're on their way?"
"Man!" said Jen, staring into the screen with Warner's face printed on it. "Oh, man! When you want a
scapegoat you don't fool around, do you? You just shout out his name, rank, and serial number and wait
for him to take three paces forward. Tad's a Marsnaut. They're all MarsnautsтАФnot politicians!"
Warner stared back at Jen from the screen without speaking for several seconds. When he did
speak, it was as if he had stepped back a couple of paces.
"We've all got our job to do, Jen," he said. "Including me. I'll tell you what. I'll talk to the President.
That's all I'll promise you. I'll pass the word along to him: But don't expect anything."
"No," said Jen.
"All right, then. Unscramble." Warner broke the circuit.
Jen sat back in the chair beside his bed, slumping. He felt like someone who had just been punched
in the stomach, drained of strength and a little sick. The phone buzzed again. He punched it automatically
to on; and a woman's face appeared in the screen.
"Hi!" it said, affectionately, "if you'd stay off your phone for five minutes, maybe somebody could call
in!"
A warm gush of pleasure wiped out the punched feeling.
"Lin!" he said, happily. "Where are you?"
"Here. Downstairs, that is," Alinde West said. "I was going to come up and just knock on your door;
but evidently you've got security guards around you, five ranks deep. I told one of them I was your