"James P. Hogan - Giants 5 - Mission to Minerva" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hogan James P)

the Dr. Hunt . . . who was there at Ganymede when the aliens came back, and
then discovered that whole world inside the computer on Jevlen?" She shook her
head. "I always think of people you see on shows and read about in magazines
as flying everywhere in limousines and living in places with security gates
and fences. But here you are, just a regular guy in the local bar."

"I hope we weren't interrupting something," Dana said.

"We're quaffing away all the benefit from a couple of hours of healthy working
out this morning," Hunt replied. "But I've always had this theory that too
much health is bad for you."

"So that tastes really good, I bet." Julie indicated their drinks.

"The first one didn't touch the sides going down," Jerry said.

"Actually, Jerry was trying to sell me on a business proposition. Restaurant
nightclubs for older fossils like us to get out to and creak around in. What
do you think?"

Julie looked perplexed. "I'm not sure what to say. You don't exactly look over
the hill or anything like that, Dr. Hunt."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Hunt told her cheerfully. "People have the wrong
attitude. What's wrong with getting over a hill? Think what happens on a
bicycle. All the hard work's over. You just leave everything to gravity, sit
back, enjoy the view, and pick up speed. Life's the same. That's why everyone
says time goes so much faster. You knowтАФ" The call tone from the seefone in
the holder on his belt interrupted. "Excuse me." He took it out, flipped it
open, and thumbed the Accept button. The head and shoulders of a young man in
a white shirt greeted him on the screen. A caption below gave the sending code
and advised that the call was from the UNSA Goddard Center. "Hello. Vic Hunt
here."
"Dr. Hunt, this is ASD. We have an incoming off-planet call on hold. The
caller is asking for you."

Off-planet? Hunt wasn't especially expecting anything of that nature. UNSA
communications from distances farther than about the Moon usually came in as
recordings because of the propagation delays. Ironically, an interactive call
was more likely to be from the Thuriens' interstellar net, which communicated
virtually instantaneously via spinning microscopic black-hole toroids, and
linked to the Terran system via Earth-orbiting relay satellites. "Who is it?"
he asked, at the same time conveying an apology with his eyes to the others
around him. But the face on the screen hesitated, seeming not to know how to
answer. "It doesn't matter," Hunt said. "Just put it through." A moment later,
he was staring incredulously in total befuddlement.

The face looking back at him was of a man around forty, with tanned,
lean-lined features giving him an alert and active look, and wavy brown hair
starting to show touches of gray just discernible on the matchbook-size