Гарри Гаррисон - To The Stars

“And I’m coming back to Earth. I don’t think Alzbeta will like it at first, but she will get used to it in the end. Earth is going to be the center of the worlds as it always has been. I can do the most for Halvmork and its people by being right here…”

“You can do the most for everyone. You know Earth and you know the planets and you know what people must have.”

“Freedom. They have that now. But it might be even harder to hold than it was to get.”

“It always has been,” she said. “Read your textbooks. Most revolutions are lost after they have been won.”

“Then let us make sure that this one stays won.” He looked up at the sky again. “I wish it were night now. I would like to see the stars.”

“They are out there. Mankind has gone out to them once and did not do very well. We have a second chance now. Let us see if we can do better this time.”

“We had better,” Jan said, thinking of the power they had, the weaponry and the infinite ways of dealing death and absolute destruction.

“We must. I doubt if we will have a third chance if we don’t get it right this time.”