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

those crazy theories involving astrology, though I'll admit that some of your
father's theories did kind of match up with what we know now.тАЭ
тАЬIt has always amazed me,тАЭ Venus Trine flung back at him, тАЬhow you
top-level scientists find it so difficult to permit yourselves to admit that
anything you can't add up as 2 X 2 or N = 0 cannot exist! Yet ten years
later the very rules you set up are tossed into the ashcan!тАЭ
тАЬSeems to me,тАЭ Jon said as he smiled with a hint of malice, тАЬthat from
the bit I know about astrology, you star-gazers have to employ serious
mathematics to compute the exact juxtaposition of the stars in your
zodiacs whenever you want to knowтАФтАЭ
тАЬWe тАШstargazersтАЩ invented mathematics!тАЭ
Jon shrugged. тАЬTouch├й. But I don't want any argument about peculiar
ideologies. Your five minutes are gone andтАФтАЭ
тАЬJon Wood!тАЭ the vision in the vid gasped. тАЬDon't you dare cut me off!
I've spent too much time since my father died trying to find you. You don't
know the efforts I've gone toтАФbribing employees in all the star-exploiting
cartels for access to their records. Digging through billions of old news
tapes.тАЭ
тАЬVery flattering. And I'm sorry to hear about your father. In his way he
was a brilliant man. Misdirected but brilliant.тАЭ
тАЬHas it ever occurred to you, Mr. Wood, that it might just be you and
your money-hungry ilkтАФтАЭ
тАЬMy money-hungry ilk keeps the human race fed,тАЭ Jon pointed out.
тАЬPerhaps our system isn't perfect. Who says it is? But the huge profits
starplot and all the others make go into space exploration and advance
human progress along the way. It's better than the old way, when our
governments scrambled around trying to foot the bills, overburdening the
taxpayers. The cartels make profit, sure. But their competition with each
other is what keeps mankind on the moveтАФfarther and farther out into the
stars. Your astrologists and other fanciful groups spring up with a lot of
ideological nonsense from time to time, but their way is diversive. Nothing
gets accomplished. You have to have a plan. A pattern.тАЭ
тАЬThen you do believe in patterns?тАЭ
тАЬYes. But patterns are a man-made concept. In nature they're random.
Hit-miss.тАЭ
тАЬAre you sure?тАЭ
тАЬNot positive,тАЭ Jon admitted. тАЬAnyway, if your stars and your astrology
zodiacs know so much, why was it so hard for you to find me? Why didn't
you just consult your stars?тАЭ
For the first time Venus Trine smiled. тАЬI have a dandy answer for that.тАЭ
тАЬWell?тАЭ
тАЬBecause you are who you are, Jon Wood!тАЭ
тАЬAnd?тАЭ
тАЬThe тАШSpace WaifтАЩ!тАЭ
Jon winced. тАЬYou know, I'm thoroughly sick of that ridiculous epithet and
everything that goes with it.тАЭ
For years Jon had tried to stifle the strange story of his origins, but it
always managed to crop up again to haunt him. As a baby, he had been
picked up in a miniship, parsecs from any known Earth colony. In spite of all
the investigations, no one had ever discovered where in the universe he