-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Исаак Азимов
-
- Конец вечности
-
- Стр. 212/248
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
They
were
service
personnel
from
the
Department
of
Intertemporal
Transportation
,
in
dun
-
gray
uniforms
with
shoulder
patches
showing
a
red
,
double
-
headed
arrow
against
a
black
background
.
They
used
intricate
force
-
field
equipment
to
test
the
kettle
motors
and
the
degrees
of
hyper
-
freedom
along
the
kettleways
.
They
had
,
Harlan
imagined
,
little
theoretical
knowledge
of
temporal
engineering
,
but
it
was
obvious
that
they
had
a
vast
practical
knowledge
of
the
subject
.
Harlan
had
not
learned
much
concerning
Maintenance
when
he
was
a
Cub
.
Or
,
to
put
it
more
accurately
,
he
had
not
really
wished
to
learn
.
Cubs
who
did
not
make
the
grade
were
put
into
Maintenance
.
The
"
unspecialized
profession
"
(
as
the
euphemism
had
it
)
was
the
hallmark
of
failure
and
the
average
Cub
automatically
avoided
the
subject
.
Yet
now
,
as
he
watched
the
Maintenance
men
at
work
,
they
seemed
to
Harlan
to
be
quietly
,
tensionlessly
efficient
,
reasonably
happy
.
Why
not
?
They
outnumbered
the
Specialists
,
the
"
true
Eternals
,
"
ten
to
one
.
They
had
a
society
of
their
own
,
residential
levels
devoted
to
them
,
pleasures
of
their
own
.
Their
labor
was
fixed
at
so
many
hours
per
physioday
and
there
was
no
social
pressure
in
their
case
to
make
them
relate
their
spare
-
time
activity
to
their
profession
.
They
had
time
,
as
Specialists
did
not
,
to
devote
to
the
literature
and
film
dramatizations
culled
out
of
the
various
Realities
.
It
was
they
,
after
all
,
who
probably
had
the
better
-
rounded
personalities
.
It
was
the
Specialist
’
s
life
which
was
harried
and
affected
,
artificial
in
comparison
with
the
sweet
and
simple
life
in
Maintenance
.
Maintenance
was
the
foundation
of
Eternity
.
Strange
that
such
an
obvious
fact
had
not
struck
him
earlier
.
They
supervised
the
importation
of
food
and
water
from
Time
,
the
disposal
of
waste
,
the
functioning
of
the
power
plants
.
They
kept
all
the
machinery
of
Eternity
running
smoothly
.
If
every
Specialist
were
to
die
of
a
stroke
on
the
spot
,
Maintenance
could
keep
Eternity
going
indefinitely
.
Yet
were
Maintenance
to
disappear
,
the
Specialists
would
have
to
abandon
Eternity
in
days
or
die
miserably
.
Did
Maintenance
men
resent
the
loss
of
their
homewhens
,
or
their
womanless
,
childless
lives
?
Was
security
from
poverty
,
disease
,
and
Reality
Change
sufficient
compensation
?
Were
their
views
ever
consuited
on
any
matter
of
importance
?
Harlan
felt
some
of
the
fire
of
the
social
reformer
within
him
.
Senior
Computer
Twissell
broke
Harlan
’
s
train
of
thought
by
bustling
in
at
a
half
run
,
looking
even
more
haunted
than
he
had
an
hour
before
,
when
he
had
left
,
with
Maintenance
already
at
work
.
Harlan
thought
:
How
does
he
keep
it
up
?
He
’
s
an
old
man
.
