"Donald Westlake - SH4 - The World's A Stage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Westlake Donald E)

THE WORLDтАЩS A STAGE, the fourth of the Starship Hopeful stories, was written in October of 1982,
and published in Playboy in July, 1984. By this point, I knew I had a series, and I pretty much knew how
it worked. The misfit crew of the Starship Hopeful would visit a new planet in every story , where the
тАШcivilizationтАЩ theyтАЩd find would be a distillation of one aspect of human life. Gambling in the first story, war
in the second, religion the third, and now - tara tara! - the thee-ay-tah!
Enjoy.




THE WORLD'S A STAGE



by Donald Westlake

From the beginning of Time, man has been on the move, ever outward. First he spread over his
own planet, then across the solar system, then outward to the Galaxies, all of them dotted,
speckled, and measled with the colonies of Man.

Then, one day in the year eleven thousand four hundreds and six (11, 406), an incredible
discovery was made in the Master Imperial Computer back on Earth. Nearly 500 years before, a
clerical error had erased from the computerтАЩs memory more than 1000 colonies, all in sector
F.U.B.A.R. 3. For half a millenium, those colonies, young and struggling when last heard from,
had had no contact with the rest of humanity.

The Galaxy Patrol Interstellar Ship Hopeful, Captain Gregory Standforth commanding, was at
once dispatched to re-establish contact with the Thousand Lost Colonies and return them to the
bosom of mankind.




THE TWO TRAMPS, picturesquely filthy, sat by the side of the road in the dusty sunshine. They were
dressed in more rags than seemed absolutely necessary given the mildness of the weather; and while one
of them mused upon life more or less audibly, the other removed a battered, scruffy boot and frowned
mistrustfully into it, as though expecting to find something alive in there. He sighed. He blew into the boot.
He sighed. He put the boot on. He took it off again. He turned to his musing, muttering companion and
said, тАЬDidi?тАЭ

тАЬYes?тАЭ

тАЬWhat do we do now?тАЭ

тАЬWe wait.тАЭ

A kind of inner earthquake of frustration vibrated through the tramp holding the boot. With a repressed
scream, he cried, тАЬFor what?тАЭ

тАЬFor him,тАЭ Didi said. тАЬHe promised heтАЩd meet us here, and weтАЩre supposed to wait until---тАЭ He broke