"Genesis - 02 - Second Genesis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moffitt Donald)

Mim, coming through into the observation veranda with another armload of empty cartons, heard the exchange, УOh, no!Ф she exclaimed. УRight in the middle of moving week!"

Bram shot her an affectionate glance. Mim was well past middle age nowЧthe mirror showed fewer gray hairs every dayЧbut her handsome face still preserved some of the lines it had acquired during their four decades together. To Bram's way of thinking, the lines gave her a strength of character and a beauty that he had come to love; it was hard to imagine Mim without them, but youthing was inevitable, and he supposed he would have to get used to it.

УHave you tried readjusting the auxin balance?Ф Bram said.

The tree systems officer looked worried. УWe're close to the limit on that, Captain,Ф she said. УAny more might be dangerous. Yggdrasil knows it's edge-on to something that looks like a sun to it and that half of its crown's in shadow. We can only deceive it so far, then the separate deceptions start to contradict each other. Too many auxins on the lit side, and we could have a very sick tree."

She waited diffidently for his response. The tree systems officer was a grandchild of Jao and Ang, and like many of her contemporaries she tended to treat Bram like a monument. She had not even been born yet when he had begun the immortality project. But Bram knew that she was a first-rate botanist, and he trusted her judgment.

Bram sighed. УAll right. I suppose we'd better keep Yggdrasil tranquilized at least through moving week. We can't afford a delay. The branch we're living in is getting a bit bosky. And we're already ten degrees out of plumb.Ф His eyes crinkled humorously. УBesides, we'd have a mutiny on our hands if we held up Bobbing Day."

УVery good, Captain,Ф she said without cracking a smile. She turned smartly on her heel and left.

Bram watched her go. She had made him feel old and hoary. There was no reason for it, he told himself. His apparent age was down to somewhere in the midforties by now. But his body still carried the memory of being much older, and it showed sometimes in the way he moved and in the habit of protective postures. That, too, would pass with time, Bram supposed.

УThe new ones are so earnest," Mim said, reading his thoughts.

УI just wish they wouldn't call me СCaptainТ all the time."

She laughed. УBut you are captain this year. And you've been elected seven times. That's more than anybody."

УIt's only ancestor worship,Ф he said. УExaggerated respect for all the old father figures. And mother figures,Ф he added hastily.

УThen why was Jao elected only once?Ф she teased him.

УAnd never againЧI know, it was a disaster! Jao's the first one to tell you that himself."

УJao never wanted to be captain in the first place. I sometimes suspect he sabotaged his first term on purpose so they'd never ask him again. But pity poor Smeth. He keeps campaigning, and he hasn't been elected once yet."

УSave your pity. Give him time. He has the next five hundred years to round up the votes. I'll bet that by the time we get to the Milky Way, he'll hold the record for being elected the most often. Because by then he'll be the only one who wants the job."

She giggled appreciatively, though she never would have hurt Smeth's feelings by doing it in his presence.

УAnd when you remember how he kept telling everybody that he had no intention of coming with usЧthat he wouldn't trust his life to an overgrown plant and a jerry-built ramscoop drive!"

Smeth had been a surprise to both of them. Bram had been sure that Smeth would stay behind. By the time the probe project had reached fruition, Smeth had accreted a huge department, with more than a hundred humans beneath him. He had attached himself like glue to the Nar organizational superstructure, and the Nar, thinking they were stepping softly on human sensibilities, funneled everything through him, snowballing his authority. He had nothing to gain by deserting the new egalitarian society that human immortality had brought about. With eternity ahead of him, he had nowhere to go but up.

But when the day had come to board Yggdrasil or be left behind, Smeth had showed up at the shuttleport with a small bag of personal belongings and a string of six biosynthetic walkers, led by a Nar porter bearing his library, instruments, and accumulated records.

УI guess he decided that it was better to be a big floater in a small pool,Ф Bram said.

УOr maybe he simply couldn't bear the idea of all of us leaving without him."

Bram nodded. УAfter he saw the stampede that developed."

Smeth had not been the only surprise. More than five thousand people had elected to go along on the genesis questЧalmost a third of the human race. The project had tapped a deep longing. The Nar had not underestimated the strength of the buried feelings unearthed in their pets. About ten years into the project, they had begun a program to gather all candidates from the farther worlds, and it had taken another twenty years to bring them all in. Those who had waited too long or who had changed their minds at the last minute had been out of luck.

УWell, I'm glad he decided to come along. It wouldn't be the same without him."