"Tom Purdom - Fossil Games" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

engineering-oriented personalities sat down with a carefully selected
political personality and began looking at the possibility some of the planets
of 82 Eridani could be transformed into livable environments. Eight months
after Morgan had established the committee, the first simulated planetary
environment took its place in the public databanks. Interested individuals
could soar across a planetary landscape that included blue skies, towering
forests, and creatures selected from three of Earth's geologic eras and two of
its mythological cycles.
It took almost five years, but Morgan's efforts succeeded. An
overwhelming consensus emerged. The ship would stay on course.
Unfortunately, the Eight still seemed to enjoy baiting Madame Dawne. By
this time, however, Morgan had constructed detailed profiles of every
personality in the octet.
The most vulnerable was a woman named Miniruta Coboloji. Miniruta's
primary motivation, according to the profile program, was an intense need for
affiliation.

****

Morgan had known his pairing with Savela Insdotter would end sooner or
later. Everything had to end sooner or later. The surprise had been the
identity of the man who had succeeded him.
Morgan had assumed Savela would grow tired of his skeptical, creedless
outlook and pair with someone who shared her beliefs. Instead, her next
partner had been Ari Sun-Dalt-- the outspoken champion of a communion that had
been founded on the belief that every member of the human race was involved in
a cosmic epic: the struggle of matter to become conscious.
Life was not an accident, the advocates of Ari's worldview asserted. It
was the purpose of the universe. The idea that dominated Ari's life was the
Doctrine of the Cosmic Enterprise-- the belief that the great goal of the
cosmos was the unlimited expansion of Consciousness.
Ari had been adding organic and electronic enhancements to his brain ever
since he had been in his thirties. The skin on the top of his skull concealed
an array that included every chip and cell cluster his nervous system would
accept. His head was at least twenty-five percent longer, top to bottom, than
a standard male head. If something could increase his intelligence or heighten
his consciousness, Ari believed it would be immoral not to install it.
"We can always use recruits," Ari said. "But I must tell you, my friend,
I feel there's something cynical about your scheming."
Morgan shrugged. "If I'm right, Miniruta will be ten times more contented
than she is now. And the ship will be serener."
They were both speaking Jor-- an everyday language, with a rigidly
standardized vocabulary, which had roots in 21st century French. Morgan had
told Ari he had detected signs that Miniruta would be interested in joining
his communion, and Ari had immediately understood Morgan was trying to remove
Miniruta from the Eight. Ari could be surprisingly sophisticated
intellectually. Most people with strong belief systems didn't like to think
about the psychological needs people satisfied when they joined philosophical
movements.
 ****