"Robert A. Heinlein - Farmer In The Sky" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

тАЬThis?тАЭ He held it up.

тАЬIt doesn't matter. I'll find something else.тАЭ

тАЬTake it. I'm through with it.тАЭ

тАЬWell ... All right-thanks.тАЭ I took it and turned away.

тАЬJust a minute, Bill.тАЭ

I waited. тАЬI've come to a decision, Bill. I'm not going.тАЭ

тАЬHuh?тАЭ

тАЬYou were right about us being partners. My place is here.тАЭ

тАЬYes, butтАФ Look, George, I'm sorry I said what I did about rations. I know that's not the reason. The
reason isтАФwell, you'vegot to go.тАЭ I wanted to tell him I knew the reason was Anne, but if I said Anne's
name out loud I was afraid I'd bawl.

тАЬYou mean that you are willing to stay behindтАФand go to school?тАЭ

тАЬUhтАФтАЭ I wasn't quite ready to say that; I was dead set on going myself. тАЬI didn't quite mean that. I
meant that I know why you want to go, why you'vegot to go.тАЭ

тАЬHmm . . .тАЭ He lit his pipe, making a long business of it. тАЬI see. Or maybe I don'tтАЭ Then he added, тАЬLet's
put it this way, Bill. The partnership stands. Either we both go, or we both stayтАФunless you decide of
your own volition that you will stay to get your degree and join me out there later. Is that fair?тАЭ

тАЬHuh? Oh, yes!тАЭ

тАЬSo let's talk about it later.тАЭ

I said goodnight and ducked into my room quick. William, my boy, I told myself, it's practically in the
bagтАФif you can just keep from getting soft-hearted and agreeing to a split up. I crawled into bed and
opened the book.

Ganymede was Jupiter-III; I should have remembered that. It was bigger than Mercury, much bigger
than the Moon, a respectable planet, even if it was a moon. The surface gravity was one third of
Earth-normal; I would weigh about forty-five pounds there. First contacted in 1985тАФwhich I
knewтАФand its atmosphere project started in 1998 and had been running ever since.

There was a stereo in the book of Jupiter as seen from GanymedeтАФround as an apple, ruddy orange,
and squashed on both poles. And big as all outdoors. Beautiful. I fell asleep staring at it.

Dad and I didn't get a chance to talk for the next three days as my geography class spent that time in
Antarctica. I came back with a frostbitten nose and some swell pix of penguinsтАФand some revised ideas.
I had had time to think.

Dad had fouled up the account book as usual but he had remembered to save the wrappers and it didn't