"Crucifixus Etiam" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miller Walter M)

There was only a hushed murmur of awed voices from the crowd. When the wind came, some of them stood up and moved quietly back to the trucks, for now they could go back to a city for reassignment. There were other tasks to accomplish before their contracts were done.
But Manue Nanti still sat on the ground, his head sunk low, desperately trying to gasp a little of the wind he had made, the wind out of the ground, the wind of the future. But his lungs were clogged, and he could not drink of the racing wind. His big calloused hand clutched slowly at the ground, and he choked a brief sound like a sob.
A shadow fell over him. It was Kinley, come to offer his thanks for the quelling of Handell. But he said nothing for a moment as he watched Manue's desperate Gethsemane.
"Some sow, others reap," he said.
"Why?" the Peruvian choked.
The supervisor shrugged. "What's the difference? But if you can't be both, which would you rather be?"
Nanti looked up into the wind. He imagined a city to the south, a city built on tear-soaked ground, filled with people who had no ends beyond their culture, no goal but within their own society. It was a good sensible question: which would he rather beЧsower or reaper?
Pride brought him slowly to his feet, and he eyed Kinley questioningly. The supervisor touched his shoulder. "Go on to the trucks."
Nanti nodded and shuffled away. He had wanted some-
thing to work for, hadn't he? Something more than the reasons Donnell had given. Well, he could smell a reason, even if he couldn't breathe it.
Eight hundred years was a long time, but thenЧlong time, big reason. The air smelled good, even with its clouds of boiling dust.
He knew now what Mars wasЧnot a ten-thousand-ayear job, not a garbage can for surplus production. But an eight-century passion of human faith in the destiny of the race of Man. He paused short of the truck. He had wanted to travel, to see the sights of Earth, the handiwork of Nature and of history, the glorious places of his planet.
He stooped, and scooped up a handful of the red-brown soil, letting it sift slowly between his fingers. Here was MarsЧhis planet now. No more of Earth, not for Manue Nanti. He adjusted his aerator more comfortably and climbed into the waiting truck.