"Tom Purdom-Moonchild" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

the only alternative we've got to breaking out the guns and knives. We tried to beat them at the
polls, and they proved we aren't going to win them over that way. No ruling class has ever given
up its privileges until it is forced to. They'll know somebody sabotaged their life support system as
soon as they get a look at the results. They'll know we can do it again anytime we want to. There's
no place on the Moon for people who are willing to wallow in luxury while the rest of the people
in their community are doing without a necessity. People are too dependent on each other on the
Moon. It's too easy for somebody to deprive you of something vital. They've forgotten they're
vulnerable but they aren't fools. They'll come to their senses as soon as they get a little reminder.
This will probably be the one and only time we'll have to do something like this.
"We'll be all right," Harvey said.
"It'll probably be the easiest thing we ever did."
"We'll probably be back here before we know it."
The phone buzzed. Dr. Oliver's shoulders jerked. Harvey settled his robe over his belt and turned on
the phone screen.
Ted's face filled the screen. "I've just been taking a little stroll around the park, Harve. Why don't you
two music addies get out of that prison cell and stretch your legs?"
"We'll be right there," Harvey said. "Where do you want us to meet you?"
"I'll probably be hanging around the fountain. There's some nice looking hits sitting around the edge."
"Have fun."
The screen blanked. Harvey turned away from the phone and fiddled with the knot on his sash.
"It looks like we got ready just in time," Dr. Oliver said.
"He didn't waste any time."
Half a dozen children were playing tag in the long corridor that ran past their door. Two of Harvey's
friends were playing chess in an alcove. A fat man was pulling a shopping wagon loaded with groceries
and three or four other people were strolling along the corridor on various errands. It was three o'clock
in the afternoon, according to the twenty-four-hour cycle people used on the Moon, and most of the
people in this part of Freedom City were safely tucked away in their offices and labs.
Two girls raced past them with a five-year-old boy yelling at their heels. His father stopped and
watched them trample down the corridor and Harvey stopped a couple of steps in front of him and
waited. He knew what his father was thinking without being told. The Duvalis process.
This process had been developed on Earth only six years before and it had become a global issue
overnight. For the first time in the history of mankind, every human child could grow up with an IQ in the
200s. The proper combination of drugs and carefully planned environments could put every child on
Earth and the Moon in the genius class. The drugs and the environments had to be tailored for every
child, however. Parents and teachers had to receive special training. If every child were to receive the
benefits of the process, every nation on Earth would have to increase its educational expenditures by a
factor of six.
Two major nations had already decided the investment would give them a population that would
dominate the world economy, and would therefore be worth every sacrifice they had to make. The rest
of the governments on Earth were dragging their feet, as usual. A complete Duvalization program would
require massive increases in taxes-- and the people who would have to put up the money would naturally
be the wealthiest and most powerful people in each society. Most of the countries of the world were
already using the Duvalis process on some of their children, but it was obviously going to be a long time
before they started giving it to everybody. Somebody always lost when the world changed-- and the
people on top always resisted when they thought there was a good chance they might be the losers.
The political conflict in Freedom City was a microcosm of the struggle taking place on Earth. The
independent colony had been founded by one of the leading genetic researchers on the Moon and the
independent research stations still dominated it economically and politically. Their research on genetic
engineering and artificial ecologies brought in most of the wealth the city attracted from the outside; the
sterile, isolated deserts of the Moon were the best place to experiment with new microorganisms and