"Richard A." - читать интересную книгу автора (Lupoff Richard A)

to
that of ordinary broiled lobster, as is that of the lobster to a common
crab louse.
Astrud do Muiscos was very pleased.
The triumph of the dwarf was a combination of white noise in the
ordinary
range of audibility with subtle sub- and supersonics, mixed with the
odor
of a quintessential coca extract and the flavor of concentrated formic
acid drawn from Amazonian driver ants.
Astrud do Muiscos named the dwarf her successor to the throne of Hai
Brasil.

The religion of the day, as appropriate to the climate of political
realities, was a mutated form of the ancient Ishtar cult, with local
variations as Ashtoroth, Astarte, and Aphrodite. There was even a sort
of
universal Mamacy, with its seat in ancient but restored Babylon.

MARCH 15, 2337
"I don't see why it's taken so long to get here, anyway," Njord Freyr
snapped.
"You mean from Pluto?" Shoten responded. "But we are on course. We are
in
free fall. Look." The cyberbiots superimposed a small box of course
data
beside the whirling diagram of the Yuggoth system.
"Not from Pluto!" Njord spat. "From Earth! Why has it taken until 2337
to
reach -- Yuggoth? When space flight began almost as long ago as the era
Sri Gomati babbles about. The first extraterrestrial landings took
place
in 1969. Mars thirty years later. Remember the stirring political
slogan
that we all learned as children, as children studying the history of
our
era? Persons will set foot on another planet before the century ends!
That
was the twentieth century, remember?"
"Every schoolchild knows," Shoten affirmed wearily.
Gomati, recovered from the shock of Njord's blow, spoke; "We could have
been here two hundred years ago, Njord Freyr. But fools on Earth lost
heart. They began, and lost heart. They began again -- and lost heart
again. And again. Four times they set out, exploring the planets. Each
time they lost heart, lost courage, lost interest. Were distracted by
wars. Turned resources to nobler purposes.
"Humankind reached Mars as promised. And lost heart. Started once more
under Shahar Shalim of the old New Maghreb. Reached Venus and Mercury.
And
lost heart. Reached the asteroid belt and the gas giants under Tanit