Robert A. Heinlein
The Rolling Stones (1952)
Quando cheguei ao final de To Sail
Beyond The Sunset, descobri que tinham ficado por ler algumas
pontas soltas do universo Future History. Uma delas era The
Rolling Stones, também conhecido pelo título Space Family
Stone (a
outra, para tentar encerrar este tema, seria a colecção
de contos The Green
Hills of Earth and Other Stories).
No presente livro aparecem pela primeira vez as personagem dos gémeos
Castor e Pollux Stone (que reaparecerão muitos anos depois em The
Number of the Beast) e da avó Hazel Stone (que também figurará
em The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, em The Number of the
Beast, e será um dos protagonistas de The Cat Who Walks
Through Walls).
The Rolling Stones faz parte de
um grupo de 12 novelas, editadas anualmente entre 1947 e 1958,
destinadas a um público mais jovem. Casualmente, o primeiro livro de
Heinlein que tive o prazer de ler foi Equipagem Espacial, a
última destas novelas (Have Space Suit – Will Travel no
título original). Os entendidos na obra do autor dizem que não há
grandes diferenças entre estas novelas e as que são destinadas a um
público mais adulto, a não ser pela ausência de cenas de sexo –
e pela opção por protagonistas jovens, ao que me parece.
A narrativa inicia-se em Luna City,
muitos anos depois dos factos narrados em The Moon Is a Harsh
Mistress, quando já poucos dos pais-fundadores permanecem vivos.
Os jovens Castor e Pollux querem comprar uma nave de carga em
segunda-mão, para se dedicarem ao comércio, contra a vontade do
pai, Roger Stone, um escritor de argumentos para TV, que pretende que
eles continuem os estudos. Por fim chegam a acordo, e partem em
direcção a Marte a bordo da Rolling Stone, acompanhados da
restante família: a doutora Edith Stone, mulher de Roger, Meade e
Buster Lowell, a irmã mais velha e o benjamim, e ainda a avó Hazel
Stone, mãe de Roger, que acaba por lhe retirar a tarefa de
argumentista quando ele assume a compra e o comando da nave.
Os gémeos Castor e Polux, negociantes
natos, decidem embarcar um lote de bicicletas em segunda mão, para
restaurá-las durante a viagem, e vendê-las em Marte com um bom
lucro. O negócio não corre tão bem quanto eles esperavam e, após
uma temporada em Marte – um
mundo de pioneiros, que começa a despontar para o turismo, onde tudo
é extremamente caro e
objecto de taxas e impostos –, a família decide apontar a Rolling
Stone à cintura dos Asteróides,
uma versão far-west
do espaço, um verdadeiro território de fronteira onde a principal
actividade é a extracção de minério. E, uma vez mais, os gémeos
darão curso livre à sua veia comercial...
A história tem a preocupação da
verosimilhança, ao contrário dos ridículos argumentos televisivos
que as personagens discutem, e a actuação das forças da gravidade
bem como o movimento das naves no espaço é explicado com algum
pormenor. Para contrabalançar esta física rigorosa há um espírito
irónico de observação, um grande sentido de humor e a vivacidade
dos diálogos, como é habitual em Heinlein.
Their host was a skinny
monkey of a man, covered with a single dark garment, save for head,
hands, and bare feet. It had once been, Pollux decided, heated
underwear for space-suit use far out starside, or in caves.
Old Charlie stared at
them, then grinned, reached up and scratched his neck with his big
toe. “Nice boys,” he said. “I knew you wouldn't hurt Charlie. I
was just foolin'.”
“We wouldn't hurt
anybody. We just wanted to get acquainted, and do a little business.”
“We want a—” Pollux
started; Castor's elbow cut off the rest; Castor went on, “Nice
place you've got here.”
“Comfortable. Practical.
Just right for a man with no nonsense about him. Good place for a man
who likes to be quiet and think. Good place to read a book. You boys
like to read?”
“Sure. Love to.”
“You want to see my
books?” Without waiting for an answer he dared like a bat into the
gloom, came back in a few moments with books in both hands and a half
dozen held by his feet. He bumped to a stop with his elbows and
offered them.
There were old-style bound
books, most of them, the twins saw, ships' manuals of ships long
dead. Castor's eyes widened when he saw the dates on some of them,
and wondered what the Astrogation Institute would pay for them. Among
them was a dog-eared copy of Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi.
“Look 'em over, boys.
Make yourselves comfortable. Bet you didn't expect to find a literary
man out here among these yokels. You boys can read, can't you?”
“Sure we can."
“Didn't know. They teach
such funny things nowadays. Quote a bit of Latin to 'em and they look
like you're crazy in the head. You boys hungry? You want something to
eat?” He looked anxious.
They both assured him that
they had fed well and recently; he looked relieved. “Old Charlie
ain't one to let a man go hungry, even if he hasn't got enough for
himself.” Castor had noted a net of sealed rations; there must have
been a thousand of them by conservative estimate. But the old man
continued, “Seen the time, right here in this node—no, it was the
Emmy Lou—when a man didn't dare make breakfast without he barred
his lock first and turned off his beacon. It was about that time that
Lafe Dumont ate High-Grade Henderson. He was dead first,
naturally—but it brought on a crisis in our community affairs. They
formed up the vigilantes, what they call the Committee nowadays.”
“Why did he eat him?”
“Why, he was dead.
I told you that. Just the same, I don't think a man ought to eat his
own partner, do you?”
The boys agreed that it
was a breech of etiquette.
“I think he ought to
limit it to members of his own family, unless the two of them have
got a signed and sealed contract. See any ghosts yet?”
The acceleration was so
sharp that it left both the twins a bit confused. “Ghosts?”
“You will. Many's the
time I've talked to High-Grade Henderson. Said he didn't blame Lafe a
bit, would 'a' done the same thing in his place. Ghosts all around
here. All the rockmen that have died out here, they can't get back to
Earth. They're in a permanent orbit—see? And it stands to reason
that you can't accelerate anything that doesn't have mass.” He
leaned toward them confidentially. “Sometimes you see 'em, but
mostly they whisper in your earphones. And when they do,
listen—because that's the only way you'll ever find any of
the big strikes that got found and then got lost again. I'm telling
you this because I like you, see? So listen. If it's too faint, just
close your chin valve and hold your breath; then it comes clearer.”
They agreed and thanked
him. “Now tell me about yourselves, boys.” To their surprise he
appeared to mean it; when they slowed down he taxed them for details,
filling in only occasionally with his own disjointed anecdotes.
Li
anteriormente:
To Sail Beyond
The Sunset (1987)
The Cat Who Walks
Through Walls (1985)
The Number of the
Beast (1979)
