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

"Then let the public go out there."

"Open up, Captain. You scorn the human race, and yet you go out time after time
and risk your life to keep us safe." Dalton raised a hand to forestall
objection. "Don't tell me you're doing it for the money. You're already one of
the richest men in the world."

"I go out for Earth's sake. It's a beautiful planet, and I want it to be here
when the human race has slobbered its way into extinction."

"There's rather less chance of that than there was a few generations ago. Things
have improved."

"I haven't noticed. Every time I come down I'm disappointed. I keep telling
myself I'll do one more run, and things will be better. They never are."

"The others feel almost exactly as you do. Every rimrunner spoke of loving the
world and despising the people on it," Dalton said.

"That's what makes us good rimrunners. We're not selected for our warm hearts.
What difference does it make how we feel?"

"It makes a great difference. There's an unbridgeable gulf between the
protectors and those they protect."

"There always has been, Senator. All the way back to my father's time, and
probably a long time before that." They sat enshrouded in darkness and silence.
Dalton made no reply. At last Vanderhorst stood and said, "Come inside. We can
talk better if we can see each other."

Their footsteps resounded on the wooden deck. Vanderhorst entered the lodge,
turned on the lights, and waved Dalton to a seat. "Tell me more about the
others," he said.

"I should think you'd know them better than I do."

Vanderhorst shook his head. "We don't socialize, not even with other rimrunners.
It's not in our natures. I knew only one rimrunner well. Moira trained with me.
We planned to go out for three runs each, then settle down to enjoy our
fortunes. She walked out on me and POP first time downside. If Moira's still
alive, she's a hundred and two years old. And I'm thirty-four. Or a hundred and
five, depending on how you calculate. Not your typical couple."

"Rimrunners aren't typical. That's why they make the public uneasy."

"The average citizen couldn't last ten days on a picket ship. That doesn't mean
that those who can are freaks."

"I'm not saying you're freaks, Vanderhorst. I'm saying that you're different in