"Continuing Time - 98 - Lord November" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moran Daniel Keys)

Bear glanced around at the lounge. About eighty meters on a side, it had only a
few real (and therefore comfortable) chairs; the rest being made of memory
plastic that withdrew into the floor when not needed. It was the closest thing
to a social gathering place the colonists had available to them, though it
lacked virtually every amenity such a place would have had on Earth, and most of
those it would have had back at St. PeterТs. Now, late at night, the glowpaint
was dimmed to twilight gray, to help bring out the holofield Bear sat watching.
Across one entire wall of the lounge, the holo of GanymedeТs sky shone eerily
real. The steady stars seemed improbably bright and numerous to a pair of men
born and raised to adulthood deep inside EarthТs atmospheric blanket. Jupiter
covered a quarter of the sky, a dim swirl of red and orange and yellow.
Bear shook his head. УNo. Is it really any colder here than in your quarters?Ф
Father Michael shivered. УIt feels so.Ф
Bear gestured to the large thermos resting beside his boots on the small table.
УGet yourself a cup from the bar.Ф Father Michael did; Bear poured for him. УGot
no cream or sugar, unless you want to go down to the commissary.Ф
Father Michael shook his head. УBlack is fine.Ф He seated himself in the foam
chair nearest Bear, cradling the warm cup between his hands. The coffee wasnТt
Earth grown, he could smell that much; but at least it didnТt have the acrid
tang of Belt synth. Martian, most likely.
He looked up from his coffee and stared at the ship.
It squatted there in the center of the holo. Looking at it strained his eyes.
Something like it might have been formed by spinning steel spider webs,
fashioning it into the general shape that was desired, and melting it until most
of the surfaces had fused together. Altogether it seemed not so much constructed
as grown.
Father Michae said without looking away, УI understand our messages arenТt
getting through.Ф
Bear shrugged. УJust a guess. I canТt imagine how theyТre doing it, if they are.
We aim lasers inSystem, but weТre not getting any responses back. Not from St.
PeterТs, not from Earth. I wouldnТt have believed it was possible if I wasnТt
seeing it. SomethingТs stopping us getting through.Ф
УNo further word?Ф
УFrom the aliens? Not since you told them to go to Hell.Ф Bear sipped at his
coffee. УMay not have been the wisest thing you could have done, Father.Ф
Father Michael nodded wearily. УYesЕwhat are you reading?Ф
Bear took his time answering. He was the only avowed atheist on Ganymede; their
chief engineer, and one of their two administrators, he was a refugee from Earth
who had found status and security at St. PeterТs CityState. He had claimed on
occasion, although never in front of Peaceforcer Evans, to have been prominent
in the American Johnny Rebs before leaving Earth; the implication being that his
very prominence among those rebels had made the leaving necessary. A thing he
did not boast of, but which Father Michael knew to be true, was that he was the
younger brother of Neil Corona, one of the great American heroes from the final
days of the Unification War. УUhm,Ф Bear said finally, УitТs a religious text.Ф
Father Michael did not smile. УIndeed.Ф
УAn old one.Ф
The Nicene Creed:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, and all
things visible and invisible.