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

"Nineteen years, five months, twenty-four days. Your health reads perfect, Van.
You can skip the medics, if you like."

"I'll skip them."

"We have a new model picket ship. She's on North Ring Four."

"I had a quick look at her."

"She's a beauty, Van. Roomier than Six, and about one-third Earth gravity
shipboard."

"Why the extra room? Do I toss in my sleep?"

"Wait till you see, Van. She's got a new type of --"

"Hold all that," Vanderhorst broke in. "Right now, I want to get this over with
and see what the world looks like this time around."

Watts raised a hand. "Anything you say, Van. Unless you have something unusual
to report, you can go direct to Reacculturation."

"No formal debriefing?"

"Not for the last fourteen years. No point to them."

"I told the smart boys that sixty years ago," Vanderhorst said. "Any other
changes I should know about?"

"Nothing major. Reacculturation can tell you better than I can."

"You tell me. If I've come back to trouble, I want to know."

"Nothing serious, Van. You've seen it all before. POP isn't the people's
favorite these days, that's all."

"Why not? Did something get by?"

"Nothing gets by POP. It's the old problems: money and politics. That new model
cost ninety-four billion. It's one of four. Some people say that's too
expensive."

"Asteroid hits are expensive, too," Vanderhorst said. "The one in '06 cost a
couple of trillion, and that one landed in the ocean. What if the next one
knocks California into the Pacific?"

"That's what we tell them, Van. But '06 was eighty years ago for downsiders. No
one remembers it."

"Do they remember the ones we took out before they hit?"