"Maxine McArthur - Time Future" - читать интересную книгу автора (McArthur Maxine)

couldn't see the color of her eyes when I held her."

The town of Las Mujeres had no public money and no resources beyond its
people, and their lives changed little during the twelve years Alvarez
was in office. But by the
time she was assassinated in 2017 the groundswell she had created was
unstoppable. I grew up hearing the name Mar-lena Alvarez as though she
were an eccentric and beloved aunt. It was years later that I realized
her actions in the town of Las Mujeres sparked the original Earth South
movement, and that she was a legend to freedom fighters everywhere.

The Earth South movement demanded social justice and economic reform
and provided the precedent that persuaded the aliens to sign the
Mars-Invidi Agreement on Species Rights in 2080, and to admit Earth as
a member of the Confederacy of Allied Worlds in 2085. Marlena Alvarez
played her part in bringing us out here and history says that her death
was not in vain. But my great-grandmother knew better.

I am not blind to the parallels between Las Mujeres and ourselves. We
are isolated, surrounded by enemies and in-differ eat friends. We have
no resources and cannot decide our own fate, which is what they used to
say about women in those times. We are divided among ourselves and
cannot conquer our own weaknesses, which is how the galaxy sees humans
now. The big difference, though, is that we have no Marlena
Alvarez--only me.
PART ONE

THE

SPINNING

WORLD
First Day

You'd think on a space station this size there'd be an all-night food
dispenser open.

I thumped the ring lift controls in a useless attempt to make the door
close faster. If I hadn't had to search vainly for a meal after the
Engineering briefing I would have had more time to catch up on the
backlog of urgent administrative tasks. And now I was going to be late
for the comet presentation. Not a good example from the head of
station.

The doors wheezed shut with maddening slowness, and a faint, transitory
lightness in my feet told me the ring lift had begun its descent from
Alpha to Gamma levels. The throughways had been deserted earlier.
Perhaps the stall owners who usually wander the lower level at night
were preparing for the coming festival. There certainly wasn't much
business anymore from shift workers--the Seouras blockade has destroyed