"The Sails Of Tau Ceti" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

УMay I have time to consider my answer?Ф
УOf course. We will want to consider all potential candidates in any event.
Still, IТd like to know whether you are interested in the position.Ф
УInterested, yes. Brave enough to go through with it, IТm not so sure.Ф
УGood enough for the time being. Now, then, where are we going to find a ship
that masses less than 100 tons?Ф

CHAPTER 4

Minister for Science Jesus de Pasqual gazed at the blue-white spark just beyond
the Tau Ceti nova and wondered whether he should feel blessed or cursed. It had
been two weeks since Farside Observatory had first detected the dim,
Doppler-shifted reflection of Sol that betrayed the presence of the alien light
sail.
The news had initially thrilled him. Often during his days as a university
professor, he had told his students that the universe was too large a place to
be inhabited by a single sentience. It was pleasant to obtain confirmation of
what had always been an article of faith. The Doppler shift readings were a
disappointment, of course. With the derelict inbound at 15,000 kilometers per
second, no ship in the Solar System could possibly catch it ... no ship, that
is, but one!
De Pasqual had been startled when he realized that the Starhopper Probe had more
than sufficient legs to rendezvous with the alien light sail. Unfortunately, it
was damnably awkward for him to ask for it to be diverted to that use. Though he
was personally in favor of exploring the Centauri worlds, practical politics had
caused him to oppose the project on the two occasions when it had sought science
grants from the current administration.
The problem was that there was no constituency currently in favor of
interstellar exploration. After two hundred years of hugely expensive space
initiatives, EarthТs multitudes were asking what they had gotten for their
money. So, to save the rest of his departmentТs budget from a meat cleaver, de
Pasqual had gone before the science committee and testified: УMr. Chairman,
there is no scientifically valid reason for exploring the Centauri suns at this
time! It is widely held that the Centauri worlds cannot support life, and should
we desire to examine lifeless worlds, we have seven of our own to keep us busy.Ф
It had seemed a wise move at the time. After all, he had traded nothing for
something. With an alien light sail in the sky, however, that bargain might
begin to appear more than a little shortsighted to his patrons on the System
Council. Nor would the man in the street remember how much he had complained
about the cost of science when faced with the prospect of a shipload of
bug-eyed-monsters on his doorstep. He would first demand that the military do
something about it, and then go looking for scapegoats to blame for humanityТs
lack of preparation. The one thing working with the public had taught de Pasqual
over the years was that they never held themselves to blame for anything.
Luckily, de Pasqual had done something even before he had known there were
aliens aboard the light sail. It had been his original intent that the Ministry
for Science be seen leading the effort to examine the derelict light sail. With
the derelict suddenly blossoming into a full-blown starship, the ministry (and
by extension, de Pasqual) looked better than ever.
He thanked the patron saint of thieves and bureaucrats that he had wasted no