"Larry Niven - Rainbow Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

She asked again. "Dog?"
"Dogs never went extinct. They're contemporary. If you think of a dog as a wolf that's been
civilized, then intelligent beings civilize each other. Intelligent wolves must have done that
too."
Miya nodded happily, and Svetz thought how strange it was to
be lecturing an astronaut on nonhuman intelligence. He asked, "Have you met aliens?"
"No," she said.
"How far have you been?"
"Mars."
"Only Mars?"
Space Bureau techs were examining the Center and talking to the Institute techs on duty. The ITR
techs were reluctant to answer. They looked to Ra Chen. Ra Chen and Willy Gorky ignored them all.
They were both hand wavers. Svetz saw Ra Chen's arms sweep around him to include the entire
Center. Gorky stopped talking then. So did Miya Thorsven. She looked to her boss, and her worry
mirrored his.
Gorky spoke briefly, gathered his entourage and left.
The Center's personnel gathered around Ra Chen.
"Good news and bad," he said. "The Center really could be shut down. Gorky wants to save us, he
says-" Ra Chen ignored the collective cynical sigh. "His ass is on the line too. He wants to talk.
He'll bring a man, I'll bring a man."
"You, Svetz. Don't bring Wrona. Zeera, can you keep things going here?"
Zeera Southworth scratched Wrona behind the ears. "You and me," she told the dog.




Chapter 3

I always knew that I would see the first man on the
Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last.
-Dr. Jerry Pournelle

Waldemar the Fourth had liked flowers. Green Resources Bureau had saved him a few for the garden
path that led to the World Globe.
Chair Gorky walked with Miya Thorsven, a few meters ahead of Ra Chen and Svetz. Their voices were
relaxed tones too low to make out.
Six kinds of orchids lived on vertical slabs of plant nutrient. Labels floated beside them, and
followed where the wind moved the flowers: holograms projected into a visitor's eyes. The roses
weren't doing well, but mutations made for marvelous variety. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts,
Artichoke: virtual labels said that some had considered these plants edible-
"Svetz!"
Thorsven and Gorky had reached the World Dome; but Svetz delayed. He'd never had a chance to
linger here. "Boss, do you want to convey your sense of urgency to Chair Gorky?"
'Tour point?"
"You told me once, never negotiate under a deadline. We're the masters of Time."
Ra Chen's head jerked once: yes. "What are you looking at?"
Svetz was watching minuscule motion on a leaf. Caterpillar, the virtual label said. It had too
many legs to count. Svetz watched it bend double to cross from one side of a tattered leaf to the
other.