"Larry Niven - How The Heroes Die" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

then he must destroy the bubble, or die. He went on talking as persuasively as he knew how.
"You see, Alf, the town has two purposes. One is to find out if we can live in an environment as hostile as this one. The other is to contact the Martians. Now there are just fifteen of us in town-"
"Twelve. Thirteen when I get back."
"Fourteen if we both do. Okay. Each of us is more or less necessary to the functioning of the town. But I'm needed in both fields. I'm the ecologist, Alf I not only have to keep the town from dying from some sort of imbalance, I also have to figure out how the Martians live, what they live on, how Martian life forms depend on each other. You see?"
"Sure. How 'bout Lew? Was he necessary?"
"We can get along without him. He was the radio man. At least a couple of us have training enough to take over communications."
"You make me so happy. Doesn't the same go for you?"
Carter thought hard and fast. Yes, Gondot in particular could keep the town's life-support system going with little help. But- "Not with the Martian ecology. There isn't-"

"There isn't any Martian ecology. Jack, has anyone ever found any life on Mars besides that man-shaped mummy? You can't be an ecologist without something to make deductions from. You've got nothing to investigate. So what good are you?"
Carter kept talking. He was still arguing as the sun dropped into the sea of sand and darkness closed down with a snap. But he knew now it was no use. Alf's mind was closed.

By sunset the bubble was taut, and the tortured scream of incoming breathing-air had dropped to a tired sigh. Lieutenant-Major Shute unfastened the clamps at his shoulders and lifted his helmet, ready to jam it down fast if the air was too thin. It wasn't. He set the helmet down and signaled thumbs-up to the men watching him.
Ritual. Those dozen men had known the air would be safe. But rituals had grown fast where men worked in space, and the most rigid was that the man in charge fastened his helmet last and unfastened it first. Now suits were being removed. Men moved about

their duties. Some moved toward the kitchen to clean up the vacuum-induced havoc so Hurley could get dinner.
Shute stopped Lee Cousins as he went by. "Lee, could I see you a minute?"
"Sure, Mayor." Shute was "the Mayor" to all bubbletown.
"I want your help as a writer," said Shute. "I'm going to send in a quite controversial report when we get within range of Earth, and I'd like you to help me make it convincing."
"Fine. Let's see it."
The ten streetlamps came on, dispelling the darkness which had fallen so suddenly. Shute led the way to his prefab bungalow, unlocked the safe, and handed Cousins the manuscript. Cousins hefted it. "Big," he said. "Might pay to cut it."
"By all means, if you can find anything unnecessary."
"I'll bet I can," Cousins grinned. He dropped on the bed and began to read.
Ten minutes later he asked, "Just what is the incidence of homosexuality in the Navy?"
"I haven't the faintest idea."
"Then it's not powerful evidence. You might quote a limerick to show that the problem's proverbial. I know a few."
"Good."
A little later Cousins said, "A lot of schools in England are coeducational. More every year."
"I know. But the present problem is among men who graduated from boys' schools when they were much younger."
"Make that clearer. Incidentally, was your high-school coeducational?"
No.
"Any queers?"
"A few. At least one in every class. The seniors used to use paddles on the ones they suspected."
"Did it help?"
"No. Of course not."
"Okay. You've got two sets of circumstances under which a high rate of homosexuality occurs. In both cases you've got three conditions: a reasonable amount of leisure, no women, and a disciplinary pecking order. You need a third example."
"I couldn't think of one."
"The Nazi organization."
"Oh?"
"I'll give you details." Cousins went on reading. He finished the report and put it aside. "This'll cause merry hell," he said.
"I know."
"The worst thing about it is your threat to give the whole thing to the newspapers. If I were you I'd leave that out."
"If you were me you wouldn't," said Shute. "Everyone who had anything to do with WARGOD knew they were risking everything that's happened. They preferred to let us take that risk rather than risk public opinion themselves. There are hundreds of Decency Leagues in the United States. Maybe thousands, I don't know. But they'll all come down on the government like harpies if anyone tried to send a mixed crew to Mars or anywhere else in space. The only way I can make the government act is to give them a greater threat."
"You win. This is a greater threat."
"Did you find anything else to cut out?"
"Oh, hell yes. I'll go through this again with a red pencil. You talk too much, and use too many words that are too long, and you generalize. You'll have to give details or you'll lose impact."
"I'll be ruining some reputations."
"Can't be helped. We've got to have women on Mars, and right now. Rufe and Timmy are building up to a real spitting fight. Rufe thinks he caused Lew's death by leaving him. Timmy keeps taunting him with it."
"'All right," said Shute. He stood up. He had been sitting erect throughout the discussion, as if sitting at attention. "Are the buggies still in radio range?"