"John Morressy - Rimrunners Home" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morressy John)

urbanites whose chief concern in the sanctuary of their towers was overeating.
The targets back in the forties were the lobies. Before that, there were other
out-of-favor groups.

But never before had these jokes been public fare. He wondered what the lunar
settlers had done -- or achieved -- to turn downsiders so openly against them.
His sleep-cram had not been helpful on that subject. One day, he thought, it
will be rimrunners.

Two days later, Senator Dalton came to Silverhill. She was seated on the deck of
Frostwood Lodge when Vanderhorst returned at dusk from a day of solitary
walking.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Vanderhorst demanded.

"I had to see you, Captain."

"I don't want to see anybody."

"Please, Captain. I have an important matter to discuss with you."

"You tried to reach me the other night, didn't you?"

"Yes. I've tried several times since then. They refused to put me through, so I
came myself. It's important."

"Not to me."

"To you and to the program. Give me a few minutes. If I can't persuade you to
listen on, I'll leave."

Vanderhorst hesitated for a moment, frowning. "All right. We'll talk out here.
What do you want?"

"To hear about POP's work from someone who actually does it."

"I told you the other night. The machines do the work. I'm along in case they
need a kick. On four runs I've spent a total of fewer than a hundred hours
awake."
"How do you perceive the rimrunners' mission?"

"We're the forward observers. We register incoming objects above a given mass,
compute their trajectories, and send the data in to the Solomons. If the
Solomons decide that an object is a danger to Earth or the colonies, they alert
the Paladins. The Paladins take appropriate action. The system works.
Forty-seven alerts and twenty-two takeouts since POP began."

"Was each of those takeouts a serious threat?"

"The Solomons thought so. I won't argue."