"Alan Dean Foster - The Black Hole" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

 Pizer swung out of his chair and moved toward the doorway, shoving the
robot with mock belligerence. тАЬYouтАЩll never know one way or the other.
Anyway, IтАЩll be eating the real thing soon enough. Eighteen months. ItтАЩs the
twenty-fourth. Time to start back, as you well know. Back to real turkey and
real dressing. Back to real life. Take her home, Heart oтАЩ Steel.тАЭ
Actually, there was very little steel in VincentтАЩs body, the robot having
been constructed of far more durable and exotic alloys and metals. But he
was still capable of recognizing and accepting an affectionate nickname
such as the one Pizer had just bestowed on him. He did not offer
metallurgical correction as he drifted toward the consoles, plugged the
correct armature into the board and began to prepare for the incipient
change of course.
тАЬHome for you, Mr. Pizer. But out hereтАЩs the only home I know.тАЭ One
free limb gestured at the swath of star-speckled blackness that filled the
port above the consoles.
Pizer had already left the room.
Kate McCrae broke the magnetic contact between her shoes and the
deck and drifted back toward the PalominoтАЩs power center, trying hard to
block out the air of disappointment she had left back in the lab.
BoothтАЩs personal pessimism she could dismiss easily enough. His
interest in the mission stemmed from cruder needs than hers or AlexтАЩs. The
reporter would be mentally translating the most significant of their dis-
coveries into credit points with his service, disparaging them by the process
which transmuted the advancement of science into monetary terms.
It was in her nature, however, to see the best in everyone. Personal
relationships were one area where she neglected to apply scientific
methodology. So she made excuses for Harry Booth. If nothing else, by
being less than fervently involved in the problems of science, he kept the
journey in proper perspective.
If they were less downcast by their failure to find life than they might
have been, it could be attributed to BoothтАЩs vision of science only in terms of
monumental discoveries. He was a more accurate representative of
mankindтАЩs hopes and expectations than anyone else on the ship, she
reminded herself. As such, his disappointment would fade faster when they
returned home. As would that of the general public.
And who was she to condemn Harry BoothтАЩs view of the cosmos?
Columbus sailed west not to advance science or knowledge as much as to
find gold, gems and spices. Da Gama went to India for pepper and nutmeg
and cloves, not because he was intensely curious about the Indians.
The motivations of such men did not diminish the magnitude of their
discoveries. Maybe the Harry Booths were as necessary to mankindтАЩs
opening of the Universe as were the Alex Durants.
At least the reporter was good company. She had been around many
journalists in her career. Others had tried to exploit her peculiar abilities.
Not Booth. They could have done a lot worse than the crusty old veteran.
A feeling of power sifted through her as she worked her way around the
vast chamber of the center. Engines snored steadily, shoving them past
spaceтАФas opposed to through itтАФat a rapid pace. They were presently
traveling at a comparative crawl, having gone sublight preparatory to
changing their course for home.