"Paul Levinson - A Medal For Harry (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Levinson Paul)

floors literally as an earthquake hit, turn the skyscraper into
a lean, tall surfer expertly negotiating the massive waves
below, bending here, leaning just right there, so that it stood
proud with just a splash or two of water on its face, a pittance
from a faucet, when the drum roll was over. Tokyo had been the
first to be refitted, rewired in a frenzy, spines inserted,
when, as luck would have it, the biggest quake of the century
rolled in. The monster from below that almost ate Tokyo. Huge
gnashing of tectonic teeth, 9.3 on the scale. And the newly
jazzed buildings boogeyed to the beat. Swayed madly like kids to
the rock 'n' roll, dig these rhythms and blues, responding,
adjusting to every tremor their sensors reported -- shuffling the
deck thoroughly and holding on. And when it was over, the Japanese
sun shone down on steel and glass with nary a cracked pane to
distort its pure reflection.

And then on to the rest of the world, unable to do anything but
cheer and embrace and pay for this astonishing demonstration of
Japanese intelligent technology. Forget about cars, computers,
holo-screens, even robots and a handful of scientists in space.
There were _people_ at stake here -- masses of plain, workaday,
food-on-the-table people who quite rightly valued their lives
high above any gadget or celestial discovery. And when
Japanese algorithms and interface safeguarded the lives of
people in San Francisco, Yerevan, Rome, Buenos Aires, when
earthquakes in each of these cities and others shook, rattled,
and rolled with no fuss, no bother, except to a few pots and
pans, their diverse peoples and governments lost all pretension
of superiority, even equality, to the Japanese culture. Japan
can do it better, why not let it in. Protectionism against
what? Our own salvation?

America with its faults and West Coast cities ever at risk
was especially grateful, especially receptive.

Nippon was on top, indisputably, at last. Forget hansei --
this was an age of indisputable pride, fulfillment of Japanese
destiny. No room for any regret, no place for reflection tinged
with even the slightest ambivalence, At least, not publicly.

But success always comes with its thin, inner sister
insecurity, Harry and his people had found. Yes, they'd
invented a truly breakthrough technology, but why them? To the
world they presented a face of only smiling, boundless confidence.
But to themselves they wondered: why them? Luck was a poor foundation
on which to launch a rosy future. Hard work was more reliable, but not
very inspiring when you came right down it no matter what the propaganda
said. Not understanding the true source of their achievements led to
doubts about whether their success would continue, whether Japan
was really the "sun of twenty-one" -- the center and light of