"Bc29" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry & Pournelle)

"Twenty years ago there came from Earth a group of men and women who dreamed of Humanity's destiny among the stars. These courageous folk were willing to invest their lives in that dream. And all of us here descended from that dream."
There were quiet nods of agreement.
"Most of you were born into the world through the bodies of your mothers, children of Love.
"But others of us--like me, like Chaka and Trish, like Stu--were children of the dream itself, brought into the world by mind and force of will. Mind and Heart together have inherited this world . . .
"Stu enjoyed his garden, and his mathematics, and his flying. God, how he loved his flying. The true wealth of Avalon is found in the fact that pleasure motivates us--not the pain of lesser cultures. We don't have discipline on Avalon--we have hunger. Hunger to grow, to learn, to share. We are lovers of beauty, of wisdom, of knowledge. We differ from the states which preceded us in regarding the man who holds aloof from public life not as 'quiet' but as useless. Together in debate and action we have created every aspect of this world, and of that, we may be proud.
"For we are at once the most adventurous and the most thoughtful human beings who have ever lived. But there is a price for the wealth, the opportunity, the beauty which fills our lives. Stu paid that price. More of us will pay it. We may pray to be spared his bitter hour, but remember his sacrifice and hope that if your moment of duty comes, you may discharge it as nobly.
"It is because of this nobility that I do not mourn. For I know that we have been born into a world of manifold chances, and that he is to be accounted happy to whom either the best life, or the best death falls. The two are joined inexorably as one.
"There is only a plaque to celebrate Stu here. His body belongs to the soil, to the cycle of life. This whole planet is the sepulcher of a brave man, and Stu's story is not merely graven on this plaque, but lives on in our hearts as we think of him, and strive to follow his example. As we try to lead a life, or die a death, one half so noble as his."
Aaron closed his eyes, and placed both hands, folded together, above his heart. "Good-bye, Stu," he said quietly.