"Joan D. Vinge - Fireship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Joan D)

BeltтАФover Olympus or Fat City or the Mariner ValleyтАФthe
Martians jostle with the visiting Earthies for the chance to get their
helmets wet, and the resort hotels make the most of itтАж And this
time IтАЩd succumbed, like a thousand other homesick colonists, to
тАЬthe midnight that it sang you asleepтАж the time it wrapped your
hills in steel and silverтАж that afternoon in the park, when you
watched it paint a triple rainbow in watercolors across the skyтАж
Remember the rain?тАЭ
And if I hadnтАЩt remembered it so painfully well, I wouldnтАЩt be in
this spotтАж I got up glumly. тАЬYouтАЩre damn right I donтАЩt want to miss
it.тАЭ
We went back across the hotel lobby and rented candy-colored
pressure suits at the tail of the shuffling crowd. We followed the
rest of them into the airlock, a long downhill ramp that led out onto
the XanaduтАЩs тАЬbalconyтАЭтАФa flagstoned terrace big enough for the
Olympic Games. I noticed a few stalwarts had rented O 2 breathers
and parkas instead of full suits, in order to get as close to the rain
as humanly possible; I personally hadnтАЩt gotten that homesick yet.
They claim a terraformed Mars is an improvement; and it is true
that melting the polar caps has increased the atmospheric pressure
enough that now anyone with six pairs of long underwear, an
oxygen mask, and the constitution of a Sherpa can walk around
outside without dying. But the climate is miserable, cold, and most
of the time painfully dryтАФin other words, a lot like winter in my
hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. I consider that a dubious
improvement.
We worked our way around the fringes of the gaudy crowd, the
sound of their enthusiasm in my suit speakers nearly deafening me.
At the point furthest from the airlock I saw two figures standing by
the low stone fence, more or less alone. One of them raised a gloved
hand as we approached; I wasnтАЩt sure whether he was waving or
checking for rain.
тАЬCephas? Basil? IтАЩve got himтАФтАЭ My rhetorical question was
answered as we joined them in the corner of the terrace. Hanalore
sat down on one branch of the corner bench; I sat on the other,
while the two men looked at me speculatively. Behind the clear
bubble of one helmet I saw the tallest black man IтАЩd ever seenтАФ
probably the tallest man IтАЩd ever seenтАФwith a scholarly graying
mustache and sideburns. He sat down next to Hanalore as she slid
toward the inner corner of the bench. And waiting for me to do the
same, with a lack of enthusiasm clearly approaching my own, was
the second man. A man who gave new meaning to the term
тАЬbeak-nosed.тАЭ In his patterned pressure suit, he made me think of
the puffin in a book IтАЩd had as a child. He might have made me
nostalgic, under other circumstances. I slid over grudgingly, and he
sat down.
тАЬWould you mind setting that case on the ground?тАЭ The tone
suggested that he didnтАЩt care whether I minded or not. He rapped
on my plastic exoskeleton familiarly.
I checked the seal of the emergency equipment plug, where