"Philip Jose Farmer - Jesus on Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

Confederation saying about the forcible seizure of their citizens? What about the
other nations which were members of the IASA and had contributed funds for this
expedition?
Once Ya'aqob spoke sharply to him, saying that he must concentrate
more. Orme glowered at him, then decided that he must not antagonise his
captors. After that, he smiled often, though it was an effort, and even made some
of them laugh when he deliberately made a pun in Krsh. Sha'ul especially
seemed to enjoy it. Orme picked him as the person to cultivate, and, perhaps,
use later on. The blondish man seemed more open and sympathetic than the
others. If he could be talked into revealing more than he was supposed to, he
might be the key to their escape.
Though it seemed impossible that he could get back to the lander, Orme
had not given up the idea. If he was easily discouraged he would never have
become the top astronaut of the NAC.
During the supper break, he turned on the TV. In the middle of a
programme about medical research, the images faded out. There was Hfathon
seated at a desk, the wall behind him decorated with bright abstract designs. He
spoke in Greek for a minute. Bronski, smiling, said, 'They're going to let us talk to
Madeleine and Nadir.'
Hfathon disappeared, and they saw their colleagues, each sitting in a chair
and staring at them.
'Hey, you two!' Orme cried. 'Are you all right?'
For the next few seconds the four babbled at the same time. Orme called
a halt to that.
'We don't know how long they're going to let us talk, so we better get the
important stuff out of the way. Tell me, were the transmitters on when you were
taken?'
Danton and Shirazi both started to talk. Orme whistled and said, 'You first,
Nadir. You outrank Madeleine.'
'The IASA saw everything from the moment the Martians came out into the
tunnel,' he said. 'At least, I think so. I know they were receiving up to the moment
we let the two men in. It's possible that transmission was blanked out after that.'
 'When you saw them get into the lander, what made you decide to admit
them? Why didn't you take the Aries out of orbit and return to Earth?'
'It was a difficult decision to make. If we pulled out, we left you two behind.
We had no idea what kind of treatment you were getting, good or bad. But it
seemed to us that if your captors were friendly, they'd have allowed you to tell us
so. We made radio contact with the two Martians when they entered the lander,
and they answered - in a totally foreign language. We had told the Centre what
was going on, of course, and even with the transmission-lag, there was plenty of
time for Carter to make a decision. He said there was no way to determine
whether the people in the lander were hostile or not until they came aboard the
Aries. And if they were friendly, and we repulsed them, then they might interpret
that as hostility on our part. And we might be deserting you two, in effect.
'On the other hand, he didn't want to order us to stay and so possibly
endanger us. In the end, he left the decision to us.'
'And so,' Madeleine said, 'he dodged his responsibility. He's a fine
administrator, but he's essentially a politician.'
Shirazi smiled and said, 'If he'd ordered us to pull out, I don't know what I'd
have done. I didn't want to go. For one thing, it would have meant leaving you in