"Ray Vukcevich - Giant Step" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vukcevich Ray)

GIANT STEP
By Ray Vukcevich

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GREGORY FIGURED THE young policeman would hit him tonight, because
at some deep level the policeman knew that but for the grace of god and the fact that
people still paid taxes for prisons and the personnel to put and keep other people in
prisons, he might be homeless and living in a space suit just like Gregory. Just a
paycheck away and frightened with pale blue angry eyes and a goofy cowlick, he
probably had a pretty young wife who sent him off to work with a kiss and a tuna
fish sandwich wrapped in waxed paper, maybe the same waxed paper that blew
across the rainbow oil slick in the gutter puddle by GregoryтАЩs feet.

In a sudden flash of inspiration, Gregory knew what to say to him. тАЬWell,
Officer,тАЭ he shouted through his helmet, тАЬwe canтАЩt move along, because all motion
is impossible. Zeno proved that thousands of years ago.тАЭ

Nancy, also suited and sitting on the sidewalk beside Gregory, touched
helmets with him. тАЬIs that logic I smell?тАЭ Her seven-year-old granddaughter Kim
stood behind her. KimтАЩs parents had died years ago in the food riots. Like the god
of Amos, the government still guaranteed the people clean teeth. Kim hung out with
Nancy and didnтАЩt talk much these days. She wore a silvery suit sized down for the
temporally challenged, and tonight she tapped the side of her helmet with a white
plastic spoon and stared up into the sky.

Silver suited figures of all sizes moved in and out of the street shadows,
dodging sluggish honking cars and tracks and flickering with neon when they passed
under the signs of surviving merchants. The suits had toilet functions, heating and
cooling units, rechargeable batteries, waterbottles, and air tanks, all the comforts of
home. Best of all, supporters of the plan privately claimed, once you sealed a wino
up in a space suit, you couldnтАЩt smell him. At curfew you could pile the people up
like cordwood. But hey, skeptics had cried, surely there canтАЩt be enough space suits
for what amounts to maybe a third of the population. No problem. We make more
suits, put all those guys who lost their jobs when we canceled the space program
back to work.

The young policeman squatted down in front of Gregory. He unhooked his
big flashlight and shined it in GregoryтАЩs face fora few moments. Then he put the
flashlight away. Maybe he had more curiosity than most, Gregory thought, maybe if
the universities had still been funded, he could have been a passable student. Maybe
he wouldnтАЩt hit Gregory, after all.

тАЬSo whatтАЩs the story on this Zeno guy, Professor?тАЭ

тАЬYes, tell us, Oh Wise One,тАЭ Nancy said. тАЬHow is it that all motion is
impossible?тАЭ Nancy was an out-of-work English professor and tended to scoff at all
things scientific. She pulled Kim around and down on her lap and wrapped an arm
around the child. There werenтАЩt many stars to see through the smoggy city lights, but
at least one of them captured KimтАЩs attention. She settled back and stared up at the