"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

тАЬThe miracles will be our department,тАЭ Drepung said, face as blank as SridarтАЩs.

Charlie thought, these two jokers might get along fine.

Slowly they worked out what they would expect from one another, and Sridar wrote down the details of
an agreement. The Khembalis were happy to have him write up what in essence was their request for a
proposal. тАЬThat sure makes it easier,тАЭ Sridar remarked. тАЬA clever way to make me write you a fair deal.тАЭ
During this part of the negotiation (for such it was) Joe finished waking up, so Charlie left them to it.

Later that day Sridar gave Charlie a call. Charlie was sitting on a bench in Dupont Circle, feeding Joe a
bottle and watching two of the local chess hustlers practice on each other. They played too fast for
Charlie to follow the game.
 тАЬLook, Charlie, this is a bit ingrown, since you put me in touch with these guys, but really itтАЩs your man
that the lamas ought to be meeting first, or at least early on. The Foreign Relations Committee is one of
the main ones weтАЩll have to work on, so it all begins with Chase. Can you set us up with a good chunk of
the senatorтАЩs quality time?тАЭ

тАЬI can with some lead time,тАЭ Charlie said, glancing at PhilтАЩs master calendar on his wrist screen. тАЬHow
about next Thursday, heтАЩs had a cancellation?тАЭ

тАЬIs that late morning, so heтАЩs at his best?тАЭ

тАЬHeтАЩs always at his best.тАЭ

тАЬYeah right.тАЭ

тАЬNo IтАЩm serious. You donтАЩt know Phil.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩll take your word for it. Thursday at?тАжтАЭ

тАЬTen to ten-twenty.тАЭ

тАЬPerfect.тАЭ



Charlie could have made a good case for the energy of Senator Phil Chase being more or less invariant,
and always very high. Here in the latter part of his third term he had fully settled into Washington, and his
seniority was such that he had become very powerful, and very busy. He was constantly on the go, with
every hour from sixA .M. to midnight scheduled in twenty-minute units. It was hard to understand how he
could keep his easy demeanor and relaxed ways.

Almost too relaxed. He did not sweat the details on most topics. He was a delegating senator, a
hands-off senator. As many of the best of them were. Some senators tried to learn everything, and
burned out; others knew almost nothing, and were in effect living campaign posters. Phil was somewhere
in the middle. He used his staff wellтАФas an exterior memory bank, if nothing else, but often for much
moreтАФfor advice, for policy, even occasionally for their accumulated wisdom.

His longevity in office, and the strict code of succession that both parties obeyed, had now landed him
the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, and a seat on Environment and Public Works. These were