"Heinlein, Robert A - A Tenderfoot in Space - Original Version v1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

Charlie looked grey. The surgeon looked at Mr. Vaughn, back at the boy. УSon, I know a man whoТs looking for a dog for his kids. Say the word and you wonТt have to worry about whether this poochТs system will recover from a shock it was never intended to take.Ф
Mr. Vaughn said, УWell, son?Ф
Charlie stood mute, in an agony of indecision. At last Mr. Vaughn said-sharply, УChuck, weТve got just twenty minutes before we must check in with Emigration. Well? WhatТs your answer?Ф
Charlie did not seem to hear. Timidly. he put out one hand, barely touched the still form with the staring, unseeing eyes. Then he snatched his hand back and squeaked, УNo! WeТre going to VenusЧboth of us!ФЧ turned and ran out of the room.
The veterinary spread his hands helplessly. УI tried.Ф
УI know you - did, Doctor,Ф Mr. Vaughn answered gravely. УThank you.Ф

The Vaughns took the usual emigrant routing: winged shuttle rocket to the inner satellite station, ugly wingless ferry rocket to the outer station, transshipment there to the great globular cargo liner Hesperus. The jumps and changes took two days; they stayed in the deepspace ship for twenty-one tedious weeks, falling in half-elliptical orbit from Earth down to Venus. The time was fixed, an inescapable consequence of the law of gravity and the sizes and shapes of the two planetary orbits.
At first Charlie was terribly excited. The terrific highgravity boost to break away from EarthТs mighty grasp was as much of a shocker as he had hoped; six gravities is shocking, even to those used to it. When the shuttle rocket went into free fall a few minutes later, utter weightlessness was as distressing, confusingЧand excitingЧas he had hoped. It was so upsetting that he would have lost his lunch had he not been injected with anti-nausea drug.
Earth, seen from space, looked as it had looked in color-stereo pictures, but he found that the real thing is as vastly more satisfying as a hamburger.is better than a picture of one. In the outer satellite station, someone pointed out to him the famous Captain Nordhoff, just back from Pluto. Charlie recognized those stern, lined
features, familiar from TV and news pictures, and realized with odd surprise that the hero was a man, like everyone else. He decided to be a spaceman and famous explorer himself.
S. S. Hesperus was a disappointment. It УblastedФ away from the outer station with a gentle shove, onetenth gravity, instead of the soul-satisfying, bonegrinding, ear-shattering blast with which the shuttle had left Earth. Also, despite its enormous size, it was terribly crowded. After the Captain had his ship in orbit to intercept Venus five months later, he- placed spin on his ship to give his passengers artificial weightЧwhich took from Charlie the pleasant neW feeling of weightlessness which he had come to enjoy.
He was bored silly in five daysЧand there were five months of it ahead. He shared a cramped room with his father and mother and slept in a hammock swung УnightlyФ (the ship used Greenwich time) between their bunks. Hammock in place, there was no room in the cubicle; even with it stowed, only one person could dress at a time. The only recreation space was the messrooms and they were always crowded. There was one view port in his part of the ship. At first it was popular, but after a few days even the kids didnТt bother, for the view was always the same: stars, and more stars.
By order of the Captain, passengers could sign up Tor a Уsightseeing tour.Ф CharlieТs chance came when they were two weeks outЧa climb through accessible parts of the ship, a quick look into the power room, a longer look at the hydroponics gardens which provided fresh air and part of their food, and a ten-second glimpse through the door of the Holy of Holies, the control room, all accompтnied by a lecture from a bored junior officer. It was over in two hours and Charlie was again limited to his own, very crowded part of the ship.
Up forward there were privileged passengers, who had staterooms as roomy as those of the officers and who
enjoyed the luxury of the officersТ lounge~ Charlie did not find out that they were aboard for almost a month, but when he did, he was righteously indignant.
His father set him straight. УThey paid for it.Ф
УHuh? But we paid, too. Why should they getЧФ
УThey paid for luxury. Those first-class passengers each paid~ about three times what your ticket cost, or mine. We got the emigrant rateЧtransportation and food and a place to sleep.Ф -
УI donТt think itТs fair.Ф
Mr. Vaughn shrugged. УWhy should we have something we havenТt paid forТ~Ф
УUh, . . . well, Dad, why should they be able to pay for luxuries we canТt afford?Ф
УA good question. Philosophers ever since Aristotle have struggled with that one. Maybe youТll tell me, someday.Ф
УHuh? What do you mean, Dad?Ф
УDonТt say СHuh.Т Chuck, IТm taking you to a brandnew planet. If you try, you can probably get rich. Then maybe you can tell me why a man with money can command luxuries that poor people canТt.Ф
УBut we arenТt poor!Ф
УNo, we are not. But we arenТt rich either. Maybe youТve got the drive to get rich. One thing is sure: on Venus the opportunities are all around you. Never mindЧhow about a game before dinner?Ф
Charlie still resented being shut out of the nicest parts of the shipЧhe had -never felt like a second-class anything (citizen, or passenger) before in his life; the feeling was not pleasant. He decided to get rich on Venus. He would make the biggest uranium strike in history; then he would ride first class between Venus and Earth whenever he felt like itЧthat would teach those stuck-up snobs!
He then remembered he had already decided to be a famous spaceman. Well, he would do both. Someday he would own a
space line.. . and one of the ships would be his private yacht. But by the time the Hesperus reached the halfway point he no longer thought about it.
The emigrants saw little of the shipТs crew, but Charlie got acquainted with Slim, the emigrantsТ cook. Slim was called so for the reason that cooks usually are; he sampled his own wares all day long and was pear shaped.
Like all space ships, the Hesperus was undermanned except for astrogators and engineersЧwhy hire a cookТs helper when the space can be sold to a passenger? It was cheaper to pay high wages to a cook who could perform production-line miracles without a helper. And Slim could.
But he could use a helper. CharlieТs merit badge in cooking plus a willingness to do as he was told made him SlimТs favorite volunteer assistant. Charlie got from it something to do with his time, sandwiches and snacks whenever he wanted them, and lots of knowledgeable conversation. Slim had not been to college but his curiosity had never dried up; he had read everything worth reading in several shipТs libraries and had kept his eyes open dirtside on every inhabited planet in the Solar System.
УSlim, whatТs it like on Venus?Ф
УMmm. . . pretty much like the books say. Rainy. Hot. Not too bad at Borealis, where youТll land.Ф
УYesЧbut whatТs it like?Ф
УWhy not wait and see? Give that stew a stir. . . and switch on the shortwaver. Did you know that they used to figure that Venus couldnТt be lived on?Ф
УHuh? No, I didnТt.Ф
Уstruth. Back in the days when we didnТt have space flight, scientists were certain that Venus didnТt have either oxygen nor water. They figured it was a desert, with sand storms and no air you could breathe. Proved it, all by scientific logic.Ф
УBut how could they make such a mistake? I mean, obviously, with clouds all over it andЧФ
УThe clouds didnТt show water vapor, not through a spectroscope they didnТt. Showed lots of carbon dioxide, though, and by the science of the last century they figured they had proved that Venus couldnТt support life.Ф
УFunny sort of science! I guess they were pretty ignorant in those days.Ф
УDonТt go running down our~grandfathers. If it werenТt for them, you and I would be squatting in a cave, scratching fleas. No, Bub, they were pretty sharp; they just didnТt have all the facts. WeТve got more facts, but that doesnТt make us smarter. Put them biscuits over here. The way I see it, it just goes to show that the only way to tell whatТs in a stew is to eat it. . . and even then you arenТt always sure. Venus turned out to be a very nice place. For ducks. If there were any ducks there. Which there ainТt.Ф
УDo you like Venus?Ф
УI like any place I donТt have to stay in too long. Okay, letТs feed the hungry mob.Ф
The food in the Hesperus was as good as the living accommodations were bad. This was partly SlimТs genius, but was also the fact that food in a space ship costs by its weight; what it had cost Earthside matters little compared with the expense of lifting it off Earth. The choicest steaks cost the spaceline owners little more than the same weight of riceЧand any steaks left over could be sold at high prices to colQnists weary .for a taste of Earth food. So the emigrants ate as well as the first class passengers, even though not with fine service and fancy surroundings. When Slim was ready he opened a shutter in the galley partition and Charlie dealt out the wonderful viands like chow in a Scout camp to passengers queued up with plates. Charlie enjoyed this chore. It made him feel like a member of the crew, a spaceman himself.
Charlie almost managed not to worry about Nixie, having told himself that there was nothing to worry
about. They were a month past midpoint, with Venus only six weeks away before he discussed it with Slim. УLook, Slim, you know a lot about such things. NixieТll make it all right. . . wonТt he?Ф
УHand me that paddle; Mmm. . . donТt know as I ever ran across a dog in space before. Cats now. . . cats belong in space. TheyТre clean and neat and help to keep down mice and rats.Ф -
УI donТt like cats.Ф