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

"It was a pleasure just to hear somebody from the blasted labs was standing up for us ordinary bolts.
My oldest daughter's getting the Duvalis treatment right now but I'll be damned if I can see why she
should get it and my son shouldn't."
"That's exactly the point I was trying to make," Dr. Oliver said. "They're going to be living on the same
world for the next sixty or seventy years. How can we have some of them grow up with 200 plus IQs
and the rest of them only be normal?"
"It's too bad a few more of the voters couldn't have seen it that way. I would have given up three
months rations if it would have helped some of Petri's people get on the Council."
"We'll just have to try again next time. Sooner or later people have to see it's the only way."
"I hope so."
Harvey shuffled restlessly. Dr. Oliver held out his hand and clapped the peaceman on the shoulder.
"They will," Dr. Oliver said. "It's going to take longer than I'd hoped it would, but I'm certain they
will."
They backed away with Dr. Oliver in the lead and disappeared around another bend. Ted sagged
against a tree trunk and rolled his eyes at the top of the dome as if he were going to faint.
"Buck up," Dr. Oliver said.
"He knows who you are," Harvey murmured. "He'll remember you were here."
"It can't be helped, Harvey. We'll just have to go ahead and hope for the best."
"They'll know we were doing something in the bushes if one more peaceman catches us like that."
"I couldn't let him catch me in the bushes with the container. He would have been suspicious right
away if Ted hadn't told him I was there."
"I wish you'd come out sooner," Ted said. "I didn't know what to do there for a minute."
"You aren't the only one. I would have stood up two minutes earlier if I hadn't been scared stiff."
"They'll just have to spot us like that one more time," Harvey said. "That's all it'll take."
Dr. Oliver stared at his son's face. The path was empty in both directions but they were all talking in
whispers.
"Do you want us to go on without you, Harvey? Do you think it's too dangerous?"
"He knows your name, Dad. He knows you're one of the people who've been fighting the Council.
He'll remember you were here as soon as they find the container and start asking questions."
"It'll be six months before they start looking. They can't prove we put it there even if he goes against
his natural inclinations and happens to remember he saw us."
"It'll just take one more incident. They'll know it wasn't just a coincidence if one more peaceman
happens to see us."
Dr. Oliver's gentle, scholarly face hardened. "You'd better give Ted your last container, Harvey. We'll
go ahead without you."
A man and a woman came into view at one end of the path. Ted pushed himself away from the tree
trunk and studied his brother's face.
"It doesn't matter whether I go with you or not!" Harvey said. "You're the one they'll persecute."
"We don't have time to argue, Harvey. Give Ted your container."
The couple were about twenty meters away. Harvey sucked in a deep breath and stepped toward his
brother.
"Don't let him do it, Ted. He can't do it if you won't help him."
His voice cracked with emotion. He had been scared before but he was on the edge of panic now. His
father trusted him. They had gotten along well for fourteen years. They had worked side by side on
election day and they had come out of the experience with a real respect for each other. He had showed
his father he could hold his own in a rough situation and his father had given him a vivid picture of a
mature man's anger at selfishness and injustice and his concern about the people who were the victims of
other people's callousness.
Ted's eyes shifted from his brother to his father. He glanced at the couple coming down the walk and
frowned.