"Charles Stross - Missile Gap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

She spends the first week and then much of the second mooching around town, trying to find out what she
can do. SheтАЩs not the only young woman in this predicament. While thereтАЩs officially no unemployment, and
the colonyтАЩs dirigiste administration finds plenty of hard work for idle hands, thereтАЩs also a lack of openings for
ambulance crew, or indeed much of anything else she can do. Career-wise itтАЩs like a trip into the 1950тАЩs.
Young, female, and ambitious? Lots of occupations simply donтАЩt exist out here on the fringe, and many
others are closed or inaccessible. Everywhere she looks she sees mothers shepherding implausibly large
flocks of toddlers their guardians pinch-faced from worry and exhaustion. Bob wants kids, although MaddyтАЩs
not ready for that yet. But the alternatives on offer are limited.
Eventually Maddy takes to going through the тАЬhelp wantedтАЭ ads on the bulletin board outside city hall. Some
of them are legit: and at least a few are downright peculiar. One catches her eye: field assistant wanted for
biological research. I wonder? she thinks, and goes in search of a door to bang on.
When she finds the doorтАУraw wood, just beginning to bleach in the strong colonial sunlightтАУand bangs on it,
John Martin opens it and blinks quizzically into the light. тАЬHello?тАЭ he asks.
тАЬYou were advertising for a field assistant?тАЭ She stares at him. HeтАЩs the entomologist, right? She remembers
his hands on the telescope on the deck of the ship. The voyage itself is already taking on the false patina of
romance in her memories, compared to the dusty present it has delivered her to.
тАЬI was? OhтАУyes, yes. Do come in.тАЭ He backs into the houseтАУanother of these identikit shacks, colonial,
family, for the use ofтАУand offers her a seat in what used to be the living room. ItтАЩs almost completely filled by
a work table and a desk and a tall wooden chest of sample drawers. ThereтАЩs an odd, musty smell, like old
cobwebs and leaky demijohns of formalin. John shuffles around his den, vaguely disordered by the
unexpected shock of company. ThereтАЩs something touchingly cute about him, like the subjects of his
studies, Maddy thinks. тАЬSorry about the mess, I donтАЩt get many visitors. So, um, do you have any relevant
experience?тАЭ
She doesnтАЩt hesitate: тАЬNone whatsoever, but IтАЩd like to learn.тАЭ She leans forward. тАЬI qualified as a paramedic
before we left. At college I was studying biology, but I had to drop out midway through my second year: I was
thinking about going to medical school later, but I guess thatтАЩs not going to happen here. Anyway, the
hospital here has no vacancies, so I need to find something else to do. What exactly does a field assistant
get up to?тАЭ
тАЬGet sore feet.тАЭ He grins lopsidedly. тАЬDid you do any lab time? Field work?тАЭ Maddy nods hesitantly so he
drags her meager college experiences out of her before he continues. тАЬIтАЩve got a whole continent to explore
and only one set of hands: weтАЩre spread thin out here. Luckily NSF budgeted to hire me an assistant. The
assistantтАЩs job is to be my Man Friday; to help me cart equipment about, take samples, help with basic lab
workтАУvery basicтАУand so on. Oh, and if theyтАЩre interested in entomology, botany, or anything else remotely
relevant thatтАЩs a plus. There arenтАЩt many unemployed life sciences people around here, funnily enough: have
you had any chemistry?тАЭ
тАЬSome,тАЭ Maddy says cautiously; тАЬIтАЩm no biochemist.тАЭ She glances round the crowded office curiously. тАЬWhat
are you meant to be doing?тАЭ
He sighs. тАЬA primary survey of an entire continent. Nobody, but nobody, even bothered looking into the local
insect ecology here. ThereтАЩre virtually no vertebrates, birds, lizards, what have youтАУbut back home there are
more species of beetle than everything else put together, and this place is no different. Did you know nobody
has even sampled the outback fifty miles inland of here? WeтАЩre doing nothing but throw up shacks along the
coastline and open-cast quarries a few miles inland. There could be anything in the interior, absolutely
anything.тАЭ When he gets excited he starts gesticulating, Maddy notices, waving his hands around
enthusiastically. She nods and smiles, trying to encourage him.
тАЬA lot of what IтАЩm doing is the sort of thing they were doing in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Take
samples, draw them, log their habitat and dietary habits, see if I can figure out their life cycle, try and work
out whoтАЩs kissing-cousins with what. Build a family tree. Oh, I also need to do the same with the vegetation,
you know? And they want me to keep close watch on the other disks around Lucifer. тАШKeep an eye out for
signs of sapience,тАЩ whatever that means: I figure thereтАЩs a bunch of leftovers in the astronomical community
who feel downright insulted that whoever built this disk and brought us here didnтАЩt land on the White House