"Hogan, James P - The Genesis Machine p260-end" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hogan James P)

Epilogue

Bornos Karenski settled back into the enveloping luxury of his seat and closed his eyes while he pictured the life awaiting him and his family in what was to become their new home. There was so much land there and so few inhabitants that they grew and ate fresh foodЧgrown in the soil itself. And they reared stocks of animals that they allowed to roam free . . . all over the sun-drenched meadows of open hills that tumbled down under their necklaces of silver streams all the way from the mountains. And what mountains! And the sizes of the trees in those forests!
HeТd seen it all in the holomoviegrams that the immigration agency had shown them. And so keen was the government there to attract new immigrants that they had not only paid half the fare for the whole family, they had subsidized his purchase of the land to the tune of 70 percent and granted him a twenty-year, interest-free loan to cover the building of his new home and the provision of machinery and other equipment. His savings had bought him over two thousand acres with plenty set aside for contingencies. There would be no more claustrophobia in computerized, plasticized, conglomerized antiseptic cities now . . . no more rounds of garish parties designed as the last vain attempt to relieve the boredom of garish people . . . no more of the mass hysteria of screaming people packed
in by the thousands into sports stadiums . . . no more drug-assisted going to sleep, drug-assisted waking up again, and drug-assisted everything else that went on in between.
Bornos Karenski was going to go back to living the life of health, honest hard work, and contentment that had once been the right of every man to follow if he so choseЧthe life that he had always dreamed of.
A sudden voice filled the huge volume of passenger cabin 3 on C deck and brought him out of his reverie.
УHello, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking again.
УWell, while you were having your lunch weТve been gaining speed and covering quite a lot of distance. WeТre well over a million miles from Earth now and have been under normal gravitic-drive acceleration all the time, which is why you will have been unaware of any sensation of movement.
УThe power beam from Jupiter has been following us all the way and charging up our on-board boosters, and weТre now into a region of sufficiently low gravity gradient to switch over to Philipsz Drive. Transfer into the system of Sirius will only take a second, but the process can induce a mild feeling of giddiness and we strongly recommend passengers to take their seats. Would all cabin staff now remain seated at their stations, too, please.
УWhen we exit from Philipsz Drive, passengers will be able to see Sirius A on the forward viewscreens in all cabins. Its companion star, Sirius B, will be partially eclipsed from our point of re-entry into normal space, but will be visible above and slightly to the right of the primary when we darken down the screens a little.
УWell, weТre going to be pretty busy for a while now here in the control center, so IТm going to have to cut out. I hope you all have a pleasant trip. When I

~24
next speak to you, we will be eight-point-seven lightyears from where we are now. Latest indications are that we should arrive at the planet Miranda on schedule, eight hours after re-entry.
УThatТs all. Thank you.Ф
Signs illuminated in various parts of the cabin to announce:

TRANSFER TO PHILIPSZ DRIVE IMMINENTЧ PLEASE BE SEATED

УWhy do they call it such a funny name?Ф ten-yearold Tina Karenski asked from the seat next to him.
УOh, well now,Ф he replied, turning to look down at her. УThat was the name of a very famous scientist who died a long time agoЧlong before you were born.Ф
УWhy do they give it his name? Did he invent it?Ф
УNot exactly, but he was the first man to discover how to make it work. He proved by what are called experiments that it was possible.Ф
УHow dumb can you get?Ф her twelve-year-old brother asked scornfully from the next seat. УEverybodyТs heard of Aubrey Philipsz. He was the friend of Bradley CliffordЧthe most famous scientist ever.Ф
УOf course IТve heard of Clifford,Ф Tina retorted pertly. УHe was the man who stopped everybody in the world from going crazy once. ThatТs right, isnТt it, Mommy?Ф She directed the last question at Maria Karenski, who was sitting on the far side of her brother.
УYes, thatТs right, dear. ThatТs enough questions for now. Look at your Sun on the screen there. You may not see it again for a long time.Ф
Tina considered the suggestion.

~25
УWonТt there be any sun in Miranda then?Ф she asked as the awful implication dawned on her.
УYes, of course there will, but it will be a different one.Ф
УSheТs just dumb.Ф
УDonТt say things like that.Ф
Suddenly the view on the screen seemed to flicker, and then it had changed. The sun that dominated the scene had moved to one side; it was larger and more brilliant than the one that had been there an instant before. And the background of stars had altered subtly. A chorus of oohs and ohs came from all parts of the cabin of the mile-long ship.
УMy head feels funny,Ф Tina said. УWhat happened?Ф
УItТs nothing to worry about, dear,Ф her mother replied. УLook there; thatТs your new sun.Ф
Tina gazed for a while at the new image on the screen, eventually arriving, by the irrefutable logic of her years, at the undeniable conclusion that a sun was a sun was a sun. . . . Her mind turned to other things and she looked back again at her father.
УHow did Bradley Clifford stop everybody from going crazy?Ф she asked.
Bornos sighed, smiled, and rubbed his brow.
УOh, now, thatТs a little difficult to explain. He set up what was probably the biggest hoax ever in history.Ф
УWhatТs a hoax?Ф
УYouТll learn all about it at your new school,Ф her mother interrupted. УI think your daddy would like a rest now. LookЧthe signs have gone out. TheyТll be putting on more movies downstairs in a minute. How would you like to go and watch them?Ф
The two children squeezed out between the seats and disappeared along the aisle. Bornos was just set~2A
tling back to resume his daydreams when his wife asked: УWas it all a hoax, I wonder?Ф
УNot all of it,Ф he told her. УThe J-bomb was supposed to be able to fire only at places inside the territories of the Western allies of the time . . . to make it purely defensive. That was certainly true; they tried to fire it at tests targets in Siberia and places like that, but it wouldnТt work.Ф
УAnd the rest of it?Ф
УWell,Ф he said, rubbing his chin. УThatТs the mystery. Everybody believed for over a century that if they allowed the machine to lose power it would destroy places in America, and if anybody else on Earth built a similar machine, then it would be destroyed too. But lots of people say that this was just bluff to stop the world from rearming. If it was, it certainly worked. ..
She thought to herself for a while. УI must say, it doesnТt really sound like the kind of person you imagine Clifford as being . . . I mean . . . setting up a gigantic booby trap that could have killed lots of peopie . . . innocent people probably. It just doesnТt sound like him at all.Ф
УThatТs exactly why lots of people believe that part of it was a hoax,Ф Bornos answered. УThere was something funny about the whole thing anyway. The people who were actually there at Brunnermont on the day that the machine deactivated would never talk about what they learned. IТm pretty sure, though, that theyТd have known. IТm sure it would have printed out something just before it switched itself off after all those years. . .