JК
Crashlander :: Нивен Ларри
Страница: 26 из 199Allow six hours for takeoff and six for landing, assuming no traffic snarls near the world of destination, and we have a ship which can go anywhere in thirteen hours but nowhere in less than twelve, carrying one pilot and no cargo, costing seven billion stars.»
«How about exploration?»
«We puppeteers have no taste for abstract knowledge. And how should we explore?» Meaning that whatever race flew the ship would gain the advantages thereby. A puppeteer wouldn't risk his necks by flying it himself. «What we need is a great deal of money and a gathering of intelligences to design something which may go slower but must be less bulky. General Products does not wish to spend so much on something that may fail. We will require the best minds of each sentient species and the richest investors. Beowulf Shaeffer, we need to attract attention.»
«A publicity stunt?»
«Yes. We wish to send a pilot to the center of the galaxy and back.»
«Ye … gods! Will it go that fast?»
«It would require some twenty-five days to reach the center and an equal time to return. You can see the reasoning behind —»
«It's perfect. You don't need to spell it out. Why me?»
«We wish you to make the trip and then write of it. I have a list of pilots who write. Those I have approached have been reluctant. They say that writing on the ground is safer than testing unknown ships. I follow their reasoning.»
«Me, too.»
«Will you go?»
«What am I offered?»
«One hundred thousand stars for the trip. Fifty thousand to write the story, in addition to what you sell it for.»
«Sold.»
* * *
From then on my only worry was that my new boss would find out that someone had ghostwritten that neutron star article.
Oh, I wondered at first why General Products was willing to trust me. The first time I worked for them, I tried to steal their ship for reasons which seemed good at the time. But the ship I now called Long Shot really wasn't worth stealing. Any potential buyer would know it was hot, and what good would it be to him? Long Shot could have explored a globular cluster, but her only other use was publicity.
Sending her to the Core was a masterpiece of promotion.
Look: It was twelve days from We Made It to Jinx by conventional craft, and twelve hours by Long Shot. What's the difference? You spent twelve years saving for the trip. But the Core! Ignoring refueling and reprovisioning problems, my old ship could have reached the galaxy's core in three hundred years. No known species had ever seen the Core! It hid behind layer on layer of tenuous gas and dust clouds.
«How about exploration?»
«We puppeteers have no taste for abstract knowledge. And how should we explore?» Meaning that whatever race flew the ship would gain the advantages thereby. A puppeteer wouldn't risk his necks by flying it himself. «What we need is a great deal of money and a gathering of intelligences to design something which may go slower but must be less bulky. General Products does not wish to spend so much on something that may fail. We will require the best minds of each sentient species and the richest investors. Beowulf Shaeffer, we need to attract attention.»
«A publicity stunt?»
«Yes. We wish to send a pilot to the center of the galaxy and back.»
«Ye … gods! Will it go that fast?»
«It would require some twenty-five days to reach the center and an equal time to return. You can see the reasoning behind —»
«It's perfect. You don't need to spell it out. Why me?»
«We wish you to make the trip and then write of it. I have a list of pilots who write. Those I have approached have been reluctant. They say that writing on the ground is safer than testing unknown ships. I follow their reasoning.»
«Me, too.»
«Will you go?»
«What am I offered?»
«One hundred thousand stars for the trip. Fifty thousand to write the story, in addition to what you sell it for.»
«Sold.»
* * *
From then on my only worry was that my new boss would find out that someone had ghostwritten that neutron star article.
Oh, I wondered at first why General Products was willing to trust me. The first time I worked for them, I tried to steal their ship for reasons which seemed good at the time. But the ship I now called Long Shot really wasn't worth stealing. Any potential buyer would know it was hot, and what good would it be to him? Long Shot could have explored a globular cluster, but her only other use was publicity.
Sending her to the Core was a masterpiece of promotion.
Look: It was twelve days from We Made It to Jinx by conventional craft, and twelve hours by Long Shot. What's the difference? You spent twelve years saving for the trip. But the Core! Ignoring refueling and reprovisioning problems, my old ship could have reached the galaxy's core in three hundred years. No known species had ever seen the Core! It hid behind layer on layer of tenuous gas and dust clouds.