"James P Hogan - Leapfrog UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hogan James P)

УMine, too,Ф Halloran said.
УThey work very hard on the race for the nuclear pulse drive back home,Ф Vusilov went on. He seemed to have smoothed his feathers, and lowered his voice in a tone of mock confidentiality. УThey think they will be first, and when they get it, they are already Out here at Mars ahead of us all to go deep-space. IsnТt it so, Leon, yes?Ф
The Frenchman shrugged. УAnything is possible. Who knows? I
think we Сave a good chance. Who else is there? Your prototype has problems. Rockwell and Kazak-Dynamik both admit it.Ф
УWell, there is always the Chinese,Ф Vusilov said, resuming his normal voice. He evidently meant it as a joke. For the past six months the Chinese had been constructing something large in lunar orbit, the. purpose of which had not been revealed. It had provoked some speculation and a lot of unflattering satire and cartoons about their late-inthe-day start at imitating everyone else. УAfter all, what year is it of theirs? IsnТt it the Year of the Monkey, yes?Ф
Vusilov started to laugh, but Leon cut him off with a warning shake of his head, and nodded to indicate an Oriental whom Halloran hadnТt noticed before, sitting alone in an alcove on the far side of the room. He had a thin, droopy mustache and pointed beard, and was the only person in the room who was dressed formally, in a dark suit with necktie, which he wore with a black silk skullcap. He sat erect, reading from a book held high in front of his face, and showed no sign of having overheard.
Vusilov made a silent Oh with his mouth, in the manner of someone guilty of a faux pas, but at the same time raised his eyebrows in a way that said it didnТt matter that much.
УWhoТs he?Ф Halloran murmured.
УThe Chinese representative,Ф Leon replied quietly.
УWhat are they doing here?Ф
УWho knows what they do anywhere?Ф Vusilov said. УWe have many countries with persons at MARSMOS, whose reasons are a mystery. They do it for getting the prestige.Ф
УThatТs why this is called the Diplomatic Lounge,Ф Leon added.
УAnyway, we shall talk with you later, Leon,Ф Vusilov said.
УI Сope you enjoy your stay Сere, Monsieur Сalloran.Ф
Vusilov led the way over to the chairs that he had indicated from the bar, set one of the glasses down on the small table between them, and sat down with the other. Halloran took the other chair and picked up his drink. УSo, hereТs to . . . ?У He looked at the Russian invitingly.
УOh, a prosperous business future for us, I suppose. . . .У VusilovТs mood became troubled again. He eyed Halloran uncertainly as their glasses clinked.
But, just for the moment, Halloran was oblivious as he sipped his drink and savored the feeling of a new future beginning and old differences being forgotten. A portent of the new age dawning . .
Until Vusilov said, УWhat else did Reuthen do for you?Ф
УHell, why get into this?Ф
УA matter of professional pride. You forget that the KGB was the number-one, ace, properly run operationЧnot sloppy-dash slipshoe outfit like yours.Ф
УOh, is that so? Then what about the general who defected in 2012, in Berlin? We snatched him from right under your noses. That was a classic.Ф
УYou mean Obarin?Ф
УOf course, Obarin.Ф
Vusilov tried to muster a laugh, but it wasnТt convincing. УThat old fart! We gave him to you. He knew nothing. He was more use to us on your side than on ours.Ф
УCome on, letТs get real. HeТd been a frontline man ever since he was a major in Afghanistan back in the eighties. He was a gold mine of information on weapons and tactics.Ф
УAll of it out of date. He was an incompetent in Afghanistan. It saved us having to pay his pension.Ф
УLetТs face it. You were all incompetents when it came to Afghanistan.Ф
УIs that so, now? And are you so quickly forgetting a little place called Vietnam? It was we who sucked you into that mess, you know, like the speedsands.Ф
УBaloney. It was our own delusion in the early fifties over a global Communist conspiracy being masterminded from the Kremlin.Ф
УPrecisely! And where did the delusion come from, do you think? The misinformation-spreading was always one of our masterpiece arts, yes?Ф
They raised their glasses belligerently, looking at each other over the rims as they drank. VusilovТs mouth contorted irascibly. Clearly he was unwilling to let it go at that, yet at the same time he seemed to be having a problem over whether or not to voice what was going through his mind.
УIt didnТt do you a hell of a lot of good with China,Ф Halloran said. That did it. УBut our greatest secret weapon of all, you never discovered.Ф Halloran raised his eyebrows. Vusilov wagged a finger. УOh, yes. Even today, you donТt even suspect what it was. The Russian leaders we have today, they are young now, and even most of them forget.Ф
УWhat are you talking about?Ф Halloran asked.
Vusilov gave a satisfied nod. УAh, so, now I have got you curious, eh?Ф He paused to extract the most from the moment. Halloran waited. The Russian waved a hand suddenly. His voice took on a stronger note. УLook around you today, Ed Halloran, and tell me
what do you see? Back on Earth, the Soviet space enterprises are supreme, and we are started already to colonize the Moon. And out here, you see we are the major presence in the nations who come to Mars. . . . Yet, now look back at the way the world was when it ends the Great Patriotic War in 1945, and you see it is America that holds the oyster in its hand, yes?Ф Vusilov shrugged. УSo where does it all go down the pipes? You had it made, guys. What happened?Ф
Halloran could only shake his head and sigh. УThese things hap.. pen. What do you want me to say, Sergei? Okay, I agree that we blew it somehow, somewhere along the line. WeТve got a saying that every dog has its dayЧand so do nations. Look at history. We had ours, and now itТs your turn. Congratulations.Ф
Vusilov looked at him reproachfully. УYou think thatТs all there is to it, that the power plant which the USA had become all just goes away, like the dog who had a lousy day? You do us a disservice. WouldnТt you grant us that perhaps, maybe, we might just have a little piece to do with what happens?Ф
Now it was HalloranТs turn to laugh. УYouТre not trying to tell me it was your doing?Ф
УBut that is exactly what I am telling you.Ф Vusilov stared back at him unblinkingly.
HalloranТs grin faded as he saw that the Russian was being quite serious. УWhat the hell are you talking about?Ф he demanded. УHow?Ф
Vusilov snorted. УWhile for years your experts in universities are busy preaching our system and idolizing Marx, we are studying yours. In Wall Street you have the yo-yo economy that goes up, then it comes down again like a flat face in what you call the depressions. Well, what is it that makes the depressions, do you think?Ф
Halloran shrugged. УTheyТre part of the boom-bust cycle. ItТs an inevitable part of the price you pay with a market economy.Ф
Vusilov shook his head, and his humor returned as he chuckled in the way of someone who had been suppressing a long-kept secret. УThatТs what most Americans say. But the joke is that most Americans donТt understand how market economies work. A depression, you see, is what happens when malinvestments liquidate. A malinvestment is when capital and resources are poured into adventures for which there is no real demand. When the bubble goes bust, all the capital and labor and factory machinery and know-how that went in, nothing has any use for anymore, and so we have the depression.Т,
Halloran nodded stonily. УOkay. So?Ф
УWhat you have been seeing ever since the one giant step for mankind is the depression in the American space program. It comes from the same reasons of which I have been telling you.Ф
УIТm not sure I follow.Ф
УIt is nothing to do with any boom-bust bicycle that comes with capitalism. That was a fiction that we invented, and your СexpertsТ believed. In a truly free market, some decision makers might guess the wrong way, but they go out of business. It only takes a few who are smart to get it right, and the others will soon follow. If it is not interfered with, the natural mechanism of prices to telegraph information adjusts supplies and demands to give the best bodyguards against malinvestments that you can get. The depression happens when all the businesspeoples make the same mistakes at the same time, which can only be because they all get the same wrong information. And there is only one way that can happen to the whole economy at once.Ф Vusilov paused and looked at Halloran expectantly. Halloran shook his head. УGovernment!Ф Vusilov exclaimed. УTheyТre the only ones who have the power. Only government interference can distort the whole picture to make the same mistakes happen everywhere.Ф
Halloran didnТt look convinced. УWhat about the big crash of 1929? WasnТt that a classic case of the free market going belly-up?Ф
УYou see, I told you that Americans donТt understand their own economics. No, it was nothing of the kind. The boom busted directly because of the inflation of the money supply through the late twenties by the Federal Reserve because they thought that easy credit would stimulate business, but what it really does is encourage reckless investments. Also, they made huge, soundless loans to Europe, to make Germany into a roadblock for Russia.Ф
Halloran didnТt want to get into all that. УSo what does that have to do with our space program fifty years later?Ф he asked.