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

"You make it sound as if I've been away to camp."

"I hope we haven't offended --"

"Never mind. Yes, things were uninhibited," Vanderhorst said, smiling faintly,
remembering the days of anything anyone wanted, anywhere, anytime, with anyone
at all, until there was nothing left to want. The 2060s had been prosperous
years, and people had lived them to the burnt-out end.

"So we've heard. It's different now."

"I expected something like that. How different are they?"

Jemma responded. "Many things that were acceptable during your last stay
downside are now under social sanction."

Her explanation was unnecessary. The information was there for Vanderhorst to
see. Jemma was pretty, and doing her best to conceal it. Makeup that gave her a
sallow coloration, close-cropped hair, a dingy sack of a dress that concealed
her figure: here were the signs that he had come back to leaner times. He
recalled the depression years of his first return. No wonder the people are
screaming about POP's budget, he thought. They don't want rimrunners, they want
bread and circuses and sex. It's all they ever wanted.

"What's legal these days?" he asked.

"The government hasn't made life impossible, Van," Korry began with a show of
joviality. "Times may be less free-wheeling, but --"

"Stop hedging. I've just spent nearly two years in space. I may want company
once I've settled in, and I don't want to be arrested for saying 'Hello' to a
woman."

Jemma laid her hand on his. "The government recognizes special circumstances,
Van."

Vanderhorst looked from one to the other, then laughed. They did not join in.
Still grinning, he said, "The new morality sounds like old-fashioned scodding
around, only with government approval."

Jemma looked uncomfortable, "It's a very special privilege, Van."

He raised a conciliatory hand. "I'll be grateful. And serious. Tell me more."

They went on, speaking in turn, a well-rehearsed routine, and Vanderhorst
listened with a solemn look on his sharp features. He nodded weightily from time
to time to demonstrate attention, but his mind was only half on their words.
They had little to teach him.

Vanderhorst had passed his youth in the shrill and angry years that bracketed