"Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Lucifer ' s Hammer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

collected two gin and tonics.

Bits of conversation ricocheted around him. "We didn't let him on the white rug, you see. So the
dog had the cat 'treed' in the middle of the rug and was pacing sentry duty around the
perimeter...."

". . . was this beautiful young chick one seat ahead of me on the plane. A real knockout, even if
all I could see was her hair and the back of her head. I was thinking of a way to meet her when
she looked back and said, 'Uncle Pete! What are you doing here?'"



file:///F|/rah/larry%20niven/Lucifer's%20Hammer.txt (6 of 385) [1/14/03 8:19:04 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/larry%20niven/Lucifer's%20Hammer.txt

". . . man, it's helped a lot! When I call and say it's Commissioner Robbins, I get right through.
Haven't had a customer miss a good option since the Mayor appointed me."

They stuck in his mind, these bits and pieces of story. For Harvey Randall it was an occupational
hazard of the TV documentary business; he couldn't help listening. He didn't want to, really.
People fascinated him. He would have liked to follow up some of these glimpses into other minds.

He looked around for Loretta, but she was too short to stand out in this crowd. Instead he picked
out high piled hair of unconvincing orange red: Brenda Tey, who'd been talking to Loretta before
Harvey went to the bar. He made for that point, easing past shoals of elbows attached to drinks.

"Twenty billion bucks, and all we got was rocks! Those damn big rockets, billions of dollars
dropped into the drink. Why spend all that money out there when we could be├С"

"Bullshit," said Harvey.

George Sutter turned in surprise. "Oh. Hello, Harv.... It'll be the same with the Shuttte. Just
the same. It's all money thrown down the drain├С"

"That turns out not to be the case." The voice was clear, sweet and penetrating. It cut right
through George's manifesto, and it couldn't be ignored. George stopped in midsentence.

Harvey found a spectacular redhead in a green one shoulder party gown. Her eyes met his when he
looked at her, and he looked away first. He smiled and said, "Is that the same as bullshit?"

"Yes. But more tactful." She grinned at him, and Harvey let his own smile stay in place instead of
fading away. She turned to the attack. "Mr. Sutter, NASA didn't spend the Apollo money on
hardware. We bought research on how to build the hardware, and we've still got it. Knowledge can't
go into the drink. As for the Shuttle, that's the price to get out there where we can really learn
things, and not much of a price at that...."

A woman's breast and shoulder rubbed playfully against Harvey's arm. That had to be Loretta, and
it was. He handed her her drink. His own was half gone. When Loretta started to speak he gestured
her silent, a little more rudely than he usually did, and ignored her look of protest.