"Gordon R. Dickson - The Forever Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

"How deep?" he asked.
"At least eighty light-years in toward the heart of Laagi territory," said Mollen bluntly. "If you want to
turn it down, Jim, say so now. The man who pulls this off has got to go into it believing he can make it
back out again."
"Mat's me," said Jim. He laughed, the bare husk of a laugh. "That's the way I operate, General. I
volunteer."
"Good," said Mollen. He sat back in his chair. "There's just one more thing, then. Raoul Penard is older
than any human being has a right to be and he's pretty certainly senile, if not out-and-out insane. We'll
want a trained observer along to get as much information out of contact with the man as we can, in case
you lose him and his ship, getting back. That calls for someone with a unique background and
experience in geriatrics and all the knowledge of the aging process. So Mary, here, is going to be that
observer. She'll replace your regular gunner and ride in a two-man ship with you."
It was like a hard punch in the belly. Jim sucked in air and found he had jerked erect. Both of the others
watched him. He waited a second, to get his voice under control. He spoke first to the general.
"Sir, I'll need a gunner. If there was ever a job where I'd need &-gunner, it'd be this one."
"As a matter of fact," said Mollen slowly-and Jim could feel that this answer had been ready and waiting
for him= `Mary, here, is a gunner-a good one. She's a captain in the Reserve, Forty-second Training
Squadron. With a ninety-two point six efficiency rating."
"But she's still a weekend warrior= Jim swung about to face her. "Have you even done a tour of duty?
Real duty? On the Frontier?"

10 I Gordon R. Dickson

"I think you know I haven't, Major," said Mary evenly. "If I had you'd have recognized me. We're about
the same age and there aren't that many on Frontier duty."
"Then do you know what it's like, Captain-what it can be like out there?" raged Jim. He was trying to
keep the edge out of his voice but he could hear it there in spite of all he could do. "Do you know how
the Laagi can come out of nowhere? Do you know you can be hit before you know anyone's anywhere
near around? Or the ship next to you can be hit and the screens have to stay open-that's regulation, in
case of the one-in-a-million chance that there's something can be done for whoever's in the hit ship? Do
you know what it's like to sit there and watch someone you've lived with burning to death in a cabin he
can't get out of? -Or spilled out of a ship cut wide open, and lost back there somewhere . . . alive but

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lost . . . where you'll never be able to find him? Do you know what it might be like to be spilled out and
lost yourself, and faced with the choice of living three weeks, a month, two months in your suit in the
one-in-a-million chance of being found after all-or of taking your x-capsule? Do you know what that's
like?"
"I know of it," said Mary. Her face had not changed. "The same way you do, as a series of possibilities,
for the most part. I've seen visual and audible recordings of what you talk about. I know it as well as I
can without having been wounded or killed myself."
"I don't think you do!" snapped Jim raggedly. His voice was shaking. He saw Mary turn to look at the
general.
"Louis," she said, "perhaps we should ask for another volunteer?"
"Jim's our best man," said Mollen. He had not moved, or changed his expression, watching them both
from behind the desk. "If I had a better Wing Cee-or an equal one who was fresher-I'd have called on
him or her instead. But what you're after is just about impossible; and only someone who can do the
impossible has a hope of bringing it off. That's Jim. It's like athletic skills. Every so often a champion