"Jerry Pournelle - High Justice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pournelle Jerry)

be known they'll fight before they give up our ship. The U.S. won't bully a small power to support
Nuclear General Company."
"I see," MacRae said. "Then 'tis more serious than we thought."
"But I don't understand," Courtney protested. "Nuclear General has a stranglehold on dozens of
little countries. You've got a reactor in Fiji, that's where they get their power . . . and the
influence the Company must have, food supplies, everything, surely you can pressure them to give
us our ship?"
Adams grinned, but there was no humor in it. "You've misunderstood a couple of things. The
mainstay of our power is plutonium, and at the moment we haven't much to bargain with. The Fijians
do. They've got a couple of hundred million dollars worth of it aboard Persephone. With what they
can trade that for, they can laugh at any threats we make."
MacRae puffed at his pipe and relighted it. "Then we're in trouble. But we've the Station, we can
breed more."
Adams said nothing. Mr. Lewis's creditors would be on him in seconds if they heard about the loss
of Persephone. If the iceberg could be got to Los Angeles before the news broke, there might be
enough cash to bail the Company out, but the Fijians wouldn't sit on it that long, and the rumors
were already out. "Tell me about Tonga, Dr. MacRae. How much of your report about our relationship
with the government can I believe?"
"All of it," MacRae snapped. He brooded heavily, then nodded. "Aye. It may sound too good to be
true, but it is so. We've nae problems at all wi' the king and government. They're happy to have
us here, for their people hae no talent for technology. Or if they do they've no interest."
"They work well with the Project," Martinez added. He nodded confirmation to MacRae's statements.
"You've heard me say they're natural ecologists, they'll have no trouble operating when I'm gone.
A real talent for sea farming. But David's right, they have no interest in the reactors at all."
"OK. That's the king. What about the people?"
"Same thing," MacRae said, "They respect the king. He gives them good government, and don't forget
they're almost the only islands which were never colonized by Europeans, held their independence
right along under the same royal family. There's nae opposition to speak of. The king gives every
boy a bit of land when he turns seventeen, or something worth the same since there's little land
to be had. And they allow no foreigners to own or lease land here. We're an exception, but the
land here's worthless without our improvements. With our help they've reclaimed other atolls
closer to the main islands, and we've shown them how to build sea farms for their own. . . . No,
Mr. Adams, strangely enough this is as close to Paradise on earth as you'll ever find."
"They're good Christians, too," Courtney added. Martinez gave her a wry look and she said, "Well,
Methodists then, Dr. Martinez!"
Adams sat quietly for a moment, nodding to himself. "OK. So the basic situation makes it possible
for us to survive here. Now tell me about the Station itself."
"What do you want to know?" Martinez asked. "The reactors are fine. And we've got the world's
largest sea farms, we're only getting started. Por Dios, Bill, it's an ecologist's dream."
"And an accountant's nightmare," Adams answered. "The reactors pay their way in plutonium and the
power's free-nearly so, the turbines were expensive, but we had to generate power to pay the
Tongans for their atolls. But the real construction-reefs, pumps, pipelines, Art-it's been two
years and there's damn little return on investment. The equivalent amount invested in nuclear-
powered food processing ships and trawlers would be earning us money right now!"
"Mon, mon, do you nae understand?" MacRae protested. His open palm struck the table with a flat
crack. -"Trawlers! No matter how modern you make those beasties they're ten thousand years out of
date! Civilized men are nae hunters, laddie. We cultivate, we grow what we need, and how can we do
that in open water? The investment here will pay for itself, never you fear, and I'm willin' to
gamble you'll be putting in more farms with what we learn."
"He's right," Martinez said. "Our open farms in the States are profitable, you'll agree?" Adams