"Emil Petaja - The Path Beyond The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Petaja Emil)

threads won't let you, not quite. Believe me then, darling. I know Jon will
make it. He has a destiny, a destiny more important than any man who was
ever born of woman.тАЭ His pointing finger traced out a pattern in the stars.
тАЬIt's written out thereтАФall of it. Can't you see it?тАЭ
 PART ONE
тАЬLike molten metalтАжтАЭ
 1
It was axiomatic, Jon Wood groused, that these weird calls had to come
when a man was busiest. Jon was hungry, having worked seven hours
straight to clean up his important clutter, and he was irritable because
early tomorrow it was off to Luna City again for an important meeting with
the starplot executives. They had picked the Moon for their major offices;
land was more plentiful, cheaper, and after all Luna City was the
jumping-off place into the starplot star empire. Jon's handsome features,
tending toward lean, tanned blondness, were drawn and cranky. Out of
habit he had flicked on the vidphone toggle and the caller was in.
тАЬJon Wood?тАЭ
It was a woman. Her doll-size replica was pretty, and that helped. She
had burnished ash-gold hair worn softly, not in the ghastly frosted, purple
haystack fashion so popular these days, and there was a hint of the
Eastern exotic in the tilt of her large, greenish eyes with their long, sooty
lashes. She didn't smile at all, though her mouth was made for it; nor did
she bat her long lashes or exercise any of the presumed feminine
prerogatives. He found flirtations enjoyable when he was relaxing in some
bistro after his arduous hours as starplot's top intuate-dowser, but on his
vidphone or in one of his twelve offices in the twelve major skipstone
planetary ganglions this sort of thing annoyed him. Jon's offbeat talents for
star-dowsing demanded enormous self-discipline and kept him very busy. At
work, he had no time for female wiles.
тАЬYes, I'm Jon Wood. But I'm very busy.тАЭ Jon glanced down at the
autophone record left by his secretary. тАЬLet's see now. You have called me
exactly sixteenтАФno, seventeen times in the past week. My secretary talked
to you before, but unfortunately she's through for the day.тАЭ The appeal
leaping in those oceanic eyes made him blink. тАЬI guess that rates you five
minutes. I said five minutes. Then down goes the switch.тАЭ
She nodded. тАЬMy name is Venus Trine.тАЭ
тАЬSure you're not putting me on?тАЭ
тАЬYou're very cynical.тАЭ
тАЬNo. I'm very busy. Four and a half minutes.тАЭ
тАЬMy name really is Venus Trine. My father was the scientist whoтАФтАЭ
тАЬTrine! Laurent Blake Trine? Yes, I studied some of his theoriesтАФmainly
universal nonexpansion and the patterns in the intergalactic
nebulaeтАФbutтАжтАЭ Then Jon remembered. Trine had been involved with a
group of cosmic astrologists and, when their activities had finally been
banned by law, Trine and the rest of the group had disappeared. Calling
themselves the Space Pilgrims, they had taken several ships and gone in
search of a world where they could find freedom of worship, or whatever
they'd called it. Jon had always wondered how a strange group like the
cosmic astrologists could have snared an important scientist like Trine.
Jon's lips tightened, and he said deliberately, тАЬI never had much use for