"Whats It Like Out There by Edmond Hamilton" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

I hadn't wanted to wear my uniform when I left the hos-
pital, but I didn't have any other clothes there and I was too
glad to get out to argue about it. But as soon as I got on the
local plane I was taking to Los Angeles, I was sorry I had
it on.
People gawked at me and began to whisper. "The stew-
ardess gave me a special big smile. She must have spoken to
the pilot, for he came back and shook hands, and said, "Well,
I guess a trip like this is sort of a comedown for you."
A little man came in, looked around for a seat, and took
the one beside me. He was a fussy, spectacled guy of fifty
or sixty, and he took a few minutes to get settled. Then he
looked at me, and stared at my uniform and at the little
brass button on it that said "TWO."
"Why," he said, "you're one of those Expedition Two
men!" And then, as though he'd only just figured it out,
"Why, you've been to Mars I"
"Yeah," I said. "I was there."
He beamed at me in a kind of wonder. I didn't like it, but
his curiosity was so friendly that I couldn't quite resent it.
"Tell me," he said, "what's it like out there?"
The plane was lifting* and I looked out at the Arizona
desert sliding by close underneath.
"Different," I said. "It's different."
The answer seemed to satisfy him completely. "I'll )ust
bet it is," he said. "Are you going home, Mr. . . ."
"Haddon. Sergeant Frank Haddon."
"You going home, Sergeant?"
"My home's back in Ohio," I told him. "I'm going in to
L.A. to look up some people before I go home."
"Well, that's fine. I hope you have a good time, Sergeant.
You deserve it. You boys did a great job out there. Why, I
read in the newspapers that after the U.N, sends out a cou-
ple more expeditions, we'll have cities out there, and regular
passenger lines, and all that."
"Look," I said, "that stuff is for the birds. You might as
well build cities down there in Mojave, and have them a lot
closer. There's only one reason for going to Mars now, and
that's uranium."
I could see he didn't quite believe me. "Oh, sure," he
said, "I know that's important too, the uranium we're all
using now for our power stationsbut that isn't all, is it?"
"It'll be all, for a long, long time," I said.
"But look, Sergeant, this newspaper article said . . ."
I didn't say anything more. By the time he'd finished tell-
ing about the newspaper article, we were coming down into
L.A. He pumped my hand when we got out of the plane.
"Have yourself a time. Sergeant! You sure rate it. I hear
a lot of chaps on Two didn't come back."