"Jack Vance - Sail 25" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

space."
Henry Belt stared aghast from the port. "What's been done to the ship? The decoration? The red, the white, the
yellow, the checkerboard?"
"Thank some idiot of a landlubber," said the pilot. "The word came to pretty the old boats for a junket of
congress-men."
Henry Belt turned to the cadets. "Observe this foolishness. It is the result of vanity and ignorance. We will be
occupied several days removing the paint."
They drifted close below the two sails: No. 39 just down from space, spare and polished beside the bedizened
struc-ture of No. 25. In 39's exit port a group of men waited, their gear floating at the end of cords.
"Observe those men," said Henry Belt. "They are jaunty. They have been on a pleasant outing around the planet
Mars. They are poorly trained. When you gentlemen re-turn you will be haggard and desperate and well trained. Now,
gentlemen, clamp your helmets, and we will proceed."
The helmets were secured. Henry Belt's voice came by radio. "Lynch, Ostrander, will remain here to discharge
cargo. Verona, Culpepper, von Gluck, Sutton, leap with cords to the ship; ferry across the cargo, stow it in the proper
hatches."
Henry Belt took charge of his personal cargo, which con-sisted of several large cases. He eased them out into
space, clipped on lines, thrust them toward 25, leaped after. Pull-ing himself and the cases to the entrance port he
disap-peared within.
Discharge of cargo was effected. The crew from 39 transferred to the carrier, which thereupon swung down
and away, thrust itself dwindling back toward Earth.
When the cargo had been stowed, the cadets gathered in the wardroom. Henry Belt appeared from the master's
cu-bicle.
"Gentlemen, how do you like the surroundings? Eh, Mr. Culpepper?"
"The hull is commodious, sir. The view is superb."
Henry Belt nodded. "Mr. Lynch? Your impressions?"
"I'm afraid I haven't sorted them out yet, sir."
"I see. You, Mr. Sutton?"
"Space is larger than I imagined it, sir."
"True. Space is unimaginable. A good spaceman must either be larger than space, or he must ignore it. Both
diffi-cult. Well, gentlemen, I will make a few comments, then I will retire and enjoy the voyage. Since this is my last time
out, I intend to do nothing whatever. The operation of the ship will be completely in your hands. I will merely appear
from time to time to beam benevolently about, or alas, to make marks in my red book.
Nominally I shall be in com-mand, but you six will enjoy complete control over the ship. If you return us safely to Earth
I will make an ap-proving entry in my red book. If you wreck us or fling us into the sun, you will be more unhappy than
I, since it is my destiny to die in space. Mr. von Gluck, do I perceive a smirk on your face?"
"No, sir, it is a thoughtful half-smile."
"What is humorous in the concept of my demise, may I ask?"
"It will be a great tragedy, sir. I merely was reflecting upon the contemporary persistence of, well, not exactly
su-perstition, but, let us say, the conviction of a subjective cosmos."
Henry Belt made a notation in the red book. "Whatever is meant by this barbaric jargon I'm sure I don't know, Mr.
von Gluck. It is clear that you fancy yourself a philosopher and dialectician. I will not fault this, so long as your
re-marks conceal no overtones of malice and insolence, to which I am extremely sensitive. Now, as to the persistence
of super-stition, only an impoverished mind considers itself the re-pository of absolute knowledge. Hamlet spoke on
this subject to Horatio, as I recall, in the well-known work by William Shakespeare. I myself have seen strange and
terrifying sights. Were they hallucinations? Were they the manipulation of the cosmos by my mind or the mind of
someoneтАФor something тАФother than myself? I do not know. I therefore counsel a flexible attitude toward matters
where the truth is still un-known. For this reason: the impact of an inexplicable experi-ence may well destroy a mind
which is too brittle. Do I make myself clear?" "Perfectly, sir."
"Very good. To return, then. We shall set a system of watches whereby each man works in turn with each of the
 other five. I thereby hope to discourage the formation of special friendships, or cliques.