"Christopher Stasheff - Warlock 09 - The Warlocks Companion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

But he could scroll through it, of course, and he did. He read it word by word,
feeling a measure of calmness returning to him as the clarion phrases rang out
through his mind.
There they were, right at the beginning, the truths Jefferson had held to be
self-evidentтАФthat all men were created equal, that they were endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rightsтАж
His mind came to a screeching halt. "All men are created equal?" Yes, Marcia had
been misquoting. Only one word changed, thoughтАФright?
He dismissed the notion as unworthy. The distinction wasn't significant; Jefferson
had probably had all people in mind, men and women; and if he hadn't in 1776, he
surely would have in 3035.
But it did rather undercut Marcia's argument, didn't it? And since all she was using it
for was argumentтАж
Sexist document . He could almost hear her voice dismissing it angrily. And she
might have a point thereтАФbut then, she shouldn't have cited the Declaration.
That wasn't germane, either, though. What mattered was knowing that he, Jose,
hadn't tried to treat her as inferiorтАФand he knew damned well that he hadn't. He'd been
showing her a bit of consideration, not being condescending.
He scrolled on through the document, feeling a little better, reading as he went, until
he came to the phrase, "These United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE
AND INDEPENDENT STATES." He held the phrase centered on the screen, nodding
with satisfactionтАФhe'd remembered the quotation almost accurately. And Marcia had
been wrong as well as rightтАФthere was a difference between a colony's having a right
to govern itself, and a woman's right to not have to take orders any more than a man
did.
Of course, everybody had to take orders, unless they were royaltyтАФand these
days, even the kings and queens had to obey the law. But a woman shouldn't have to
take orders from her husband any more than he should have to take orders from herтАж
For a moment, Jose's head whirled, and he found himself wondering what he was
doing in that marriage. Or was it really a marriage?
Heresy. He brought his attention back firmly to the issue at hand. He was living in
accord with the Declaration's principles; he didn't have anything to feel badly about.
Unless , said a niggling doubt in the back of his mindтАФunless Jefferson's principle
of independence really meant that no one should ever become so fully dependent on
another person that you could really say they were married. But Jose was sure
Jefferson hadn't meant that.
But the principle itselfтАж ?
The principle could wait. Jose pulled himself together firmly. He could work out that
principle now and again, for the rest of his life; it was only one more problem to solve,
the problem of being independent but married, and he was sure he could figure it out
in time. Meanwhile, there was an important issue of a robot brain that needed to be
programmed, and had been waiting far longer than it should have.
But he was almost at the end of the document. He punched for "Scroll" and read the
rest of the Declaration, letting it fill him with pride in being human, in beingтАж
"Hey, Jose!"
Jose frowned, turning to the programmer next to him. "Yeah, Bob?"
"It won't access the original." Bob sat back, waving at his screen. "What am I doing
wrong?"
Jose suppressed a smile. Bob was very young, and very new to the job. He knew
computers better than Jose did, but he hadn't learned much about the asininities of