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

common-law wife; but it didn't move him. He's watching me now while I phone you from the lobby."
"Who is it?" Jen asked. "Gervais? Tall, black man, middle-aged?"
"With a scowl."
"Let me talk to him."
There was a short pause; and then the face of Security Department Agent N. Gervais took over the
screen.
 "Sorry if I've been holding up someone I shouldn't," Gervais said. He did not look sorry at all. "She
said something about being your wife; and according to our records you're not married."
"Not exactly, no," said Jen. "She's a very old friend, though; and she's had White House clearance to
accompany me before. If you put a call in to Warner Rethe's office, you ought to find authorization for
her to join me."
"Just a minute, Mr. Wylie." The screen went blankтАФbut not gray-blank, white-blank with a holding
light. Wylie sat waiting for several minutes, thinking that Gervais could at least have put Lin back on while
the check was being made. Then Gervais himself appeared again. "Yes sir. There's White House record
of clearance for her. It's been reactivated on a twenty-four-hour basis. If you want it extended beyond
that time, they ask that you call them."
"Thanks," said Jen. He felt a sudden sympathy with Gervais, who was a professional. Lin's visit was a
complication to GervaisтАФa needless complication and increase in the duties of guarding the international
representatives attending the launch. "I promise she'll go directly to my suite up here and directly from it.
And I'll let you know as soon as she leaves the area."
"Thank you, Mr. Wylie," said Gervais, with no more emotion than he had shown before. "I'll have her
escorted to you, now."
One of the agents, a man Jen did not know, brought Lin to the suite. As the door closed behind her,
he had his arms already around her. She was good to hold; a tall, chestnut-haired, vibrant
woman-shape.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Jen asked her, as he was making them each a Scotch and soda
after they had sorted themselves out.
"The magazine sent me down," she said from the couch where she had seated herself. "My
suggestion, of course. I'm going to do a piece on the Marsnauts' wivesтАФhow they adjust their families to
the idea that daddy's going to be gone three years in outer space."
"There's not a lot of wives for you to ask," said Jen. "Feodor Asturnov, the Russian cosmonaut, is a
widower. Both Anoshi Wantanabe and the Pan-European 'naut, Bern Callieux, have wives who decided
to stay home with their children and not come for the launch. Bapti Lal Bose, the Indian, isn't married.
That just leaves Dirk's wife and Tadell Hansard's."
"You've met them, haven't you?" Lin asked. "The wives of those two, I mean?"
Jen nodded.
"You'll like Wendy Hansard I think," he said. "She looks something like you. She's the sort of woman
you'd kind of expect an astronaut to marry. Dirk's wife, Ceilly, I don't know as well. But she seems
likable, too. Big, young girl. Sort of more English than Dirk. Blond."
Lin tossed her own long brown hair.
"Can you help me get to see them tomorrow?" she asked.
"I can try. You shouldn't have any trouble once the launch is over. Before, there's no chance, of
course. LookтАФ" He came over with the drinks, put them on the table before the couch and sat down,
turning urgently to her, "there's a Presidential reception for all of us to go to this evening; and it's not the
sort of thing where I can get you on the invitation list. But if you think you can wait here, I ought to be
back here about elevenтАФ"
"Idiot!" she said, putting her arms around him fondly and nestling up against him. "Of course I'll be
here when you get backтАФwaiting. Why do you think I managed to get myself sent down here?"
Later, Marsnauts and their personal guests went from Operations and Checkout by VTOL aircraft to
the landing pad on the roof of the hotel housing the Deputy Ministers. The Reception was held in a