"The Fittest" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maclean Katherine)

He explained, grinning. 'There might be natives on Venus." She was startled by the idea but still puzzled.

"On Venus? How could they breathe? What would they eat? That's not very likely, is it, Terry?"

He grinned more widely. "No, but nobody has been there to see. There is a reasonable doubt, enough to rock those bureaucrats back on their heels with an injunction. They should have thought of the possibility. They should be more careful of who their damned lumbering machine is likely to run over next"

He got his publicity. There was a great quarrel among experts, overflowing onto the radio, television, and all the public papers. While they were arguing, the injunction went through, restraining Dr. Crofts from sending the seeds ...

Patty's motives are not known. They may have included some dream of a desert being grown over by trumpet vines and lilac bushes and birds and running streams. She may have been angry with Terry for some reason of her own.

He came in from a radio speech and found a clipping on his desk. It stated that Anton Gottlieb of the American and German Rocket Societies had finished a new spaceship to add to the fleet of five now prospecting the asteroid belt. Gottlieb stated that the new design was so economical of weight that it was theoretically capable even of landing and taking off again from a medium-sized planet without refueling. Under the clipping was a note from Patty.

"Why don't you go to Venus and see for yourself?" the note said. "Think of the publicity!" It is impossible to say what would have been the tone of her voice if she had said it, but it sounded like a dare to Terry Shay.

The next night he went on the air to tell the world that he was going to Venus.

The country was interested. They had argued enough; now they wanted an answer. They passed the hat to raise the fortune that was needed to buy the spaceship for him, and they placed side bets with each other on what he would find on Venus.

While the collection of money went on, Terry turned up at the proving grounds to consult the designer.

"Why not?" said Gottlieb, spreading his hands and shrugging. "If crazy people want to go to Venus, I will convert the ship for Venus. It will only need a little change in fins, there, and a stronger tripod, there, so, and ЕФ He paused and considered the spaceship meditatively, a light of speculation growing in his eyes.

"This search, it will make the test more dangerous, yes?Ф

"Yes."

"You land, maybe, and take off again?" He was growing excited with some idea of his own.

"Yes."

"Good! Then I will go with you." He beamed.

Terry considered having "Papa" Gottlieb as a companion and stifled a grin. "But what of your responsibilities, Mr. Gottlieb?"

Gottlieb looked harassed. "That's what Minna says. Always she wants me to stay on the ground. Always she says, think of the childrenЧI think of the children, their father a designer who has not the faith to test his own ships! No, this time I go!"



In the archives of the newspapers of the time one can find photographs of the Department of Agriculture man nervously shaking hands with the two before the takeoff, and wishing them well in a stilted, memorized speech. In most of the photographs, Dr. Crofts and Anton Gustav Gottlieb seem embarrassed by the cameras and crowds, and Terry Shay is smiling and eager to go, but in one picture Terry Shay has already climbed into the ship and Dr. Crofts is handing Gottlieb a symbolic going-away present. It is a package of morning-glory seeds, the caption says, and they are both smiling wryly.



After they had been through the first acceleration and picked up extra fuel at the moon, Gottlieb took time for Terry's instruction; Gottlieb was of the opinion that non-engineers were backward children and halfwits, but he kept to his task, sometimes despairing, but always inexhaustibly patient, and succeeded in drilling Terry in the care and handling of spaceships and giving him some rudiments of navigation. Terry came to know "Papa" Gottlieb very well, and tried to turn the tables on him by discussing politics. Gottlieb usually evaded the subject with a good-natured "Ach!" of despair.

Once he said, "Did I ever tell you I did not like people?Ф

"No." Terry smiled; the statement was ludicrous. Gottlieb obviously liked everybody.

I don't like people. They are very silly," said Gottlieb soberly. "I was in five concentration camps. They were all alike." He touched the scars on his neck. "What good is politics, Terry?'