Garden on The Moon (v1.0) by Pierre Boulle

Author:Pierre Boulle [Boulle, Pierre]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-17T00:00:00+00:00

Two days later he was breakfasting with Maggie when she gave a startled exclamation.

“Did you really make this statement?”

“What statement?”

She put down her coffee cup, picked up the newspaper spread out in front of her, and read out loud:

“ ‘It is stupid to pride ourselves on having several satellites revolving around the earth, whereas the Russians have only one …’”

“ ‘For the Russian satellite,’ ” Stern quoted, “ ‘contains far more instruments than all of ours put together.’ Yes, I said that.”

“And it goes on: ‘I am convinced that when our astronauts land on the moon they will be greeted by Soviet air hostesses.’ ” “Exactly. And I also added, I remember very well and I hope it hasn’t been omitted: ‘Now it is too late. We shall never be able to catch up with the Russians in the field of rocketry.’ ”

“Oh!” Maggie exclaimed indignantly. “That’s been headlined in huge letters … so big that I hadn’t even noticed them… . You must be crazy!”

“Lunatic,” Stern replied gently.

“You can’t really think that,” she moaned. “It’s not possible! Furthermore, you’re going to get yourself arrested, or at least thrown out on your ear.”

“I’ve already been arrested once, by the Gestapo. As for being fired . .

He was interrupted by the telephone ringing.

It was not the authorities. It was a long-distance call from the state of Massachusetts.

A politician. A senator? Stern had not caught the name. He wished to meet him? It was not the first time politicians had tried to get in touch with him, out of mere curiosity more often than not. Nothing worthwhile had ever emerged from these meetings. This man, however, sounded young and pleasant. He had just read the interview in the papers. It had made a deep impression on him.

“I can well believe it when you say we’re lagging behind the Russians, and I admire you for proclaiming it, Dr. Stern . When I’m not satisfied, I always say so. But when you add: ‘Now it is too late. We shall never be able to catch up with them . . — is that really your considered opinion? … I see… . Yes, it’s difficult to discuss this on the telephone. But I happen to have some business in Alabama today. I’m catching the next plane. I’ll be in Rockland this evening, with a friend of mine who’s very interested in space problems and who’s better qualified than I am to discuss them… . Stewart; I think you may have heard of him. He’s a great admirer of yours.”

It was the name of a university man who had visited La Grange several times. Stern remembered him perfectly. He was one of the few who appeared to have a thorough knowledge of the subject and whose imagination did not seem circumscribed by narrow specialization.

“I should very much like to meet with you, Dr. Stern .”

Stern agreed and made an appointment. Then, as he was about to hang up, he again asked the senator his name, which he had not heard properly.

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