"Mike Resnick - Birthright" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

The planet, with its deep gouges and explosive brilliance, was as much an enigma as the ship orbiting it
was a commonplace.

And common it was, with its Republic insignia, its oft-repaired hatches, and its two sloppily efficient
tenants. It was no newcomer to space, this ship that had known a dozen owners and ten times that many
worlds. If sound could travel through the vacuum, the ship would doubtless have sputtered as it glided
around the tiny red world. For decades now, each takeoff had been a death-defying challenge, each
landing a death-inviting proposition. The ship's exterior was covered with the grime and soot of more
than one hundred worlds, which may well have been what held it together. It was prone to periods of
deafening and body-wrenching vibrations, which was one of the few ways its occupants knew it was still
functioning.

They sat before a viewing screen, unkempt, unshaven, unshodтАФand unhappy. One was tall and gaunt,
with hollow cheeks and deepset, brooding blue eyes; the other was of medium height, medium weight,
and nondescript hair color, and was named Allan Nelson.

тАЬHas the damned thing even got a name?тАЭ asked Milt Bowman disgustedly as he gazed at the screen.

тАЬNot to my knowledge,тАЭ grunted Nelson. тАЬJust Zeta Cancri IV.тАЭ

тАЬWe named the last one after you, so we'll christen this one Bowman 29,тАЭ said Bowman, jotting it down
on his star chart. тАЬOr is it 30?тАЭ

Nelson checked his notebook. тАЬBowman 29,тАЭ he said at last. He glanced at the screen and muttered,
тАЬSome world.тАЭ

тАЬThree billion worlds in the damned galaxy,тАЭ said Bowman, тАЬand they decide that they've got to have this
one. Sometimes I wonder about those bastards. I really do.тАЭ

тАЬSometimes they must wonder about us,тАЭ said Nelson grimly. тАЬI didn't see them beating off volunteers
for Zeta Cancri IV.тАЭ

тАЬYou mean Bowman 29.тАЭ

тАЬWell, whatever the name, there can't be more than a couple of hundred idiots around who'd open the
damned place up.тАЭ

He was wrong. There were only two: Bowman and Nelson. The Republic, vast as it was, couldn't spare
anyone else, for Man had traveled too far too fast. In the beginning, when Sol's planets were first being
explored, Man's footholds were mere scientific outposts. Later, as the planets were made habitable, the
outposts became colonies. Even after the Tachyon Drive was developed, the handful of planets Man
conquered were simple extensions of Earth.

But things soon got out of hand, for planets, with planetary civilizations, were a far cry from outposts and
colonies. They were the permanent homes of entire populaces, with environments that had to be battled
and tamed, urbanized and mechanized. And, before Man was quite ready for it, there were fourteen
hundred such planets. It didn't sound like a lot, but precious few of them were even remotely similar to
Earth, and Man needed all eleven billions of his population just to keep things running smoothly.

More than a third of the planetsтАФthose with alien life formsтАФwere under martial law; this required an