"Baxter, Stephen - Raft" - читать интересную книгу автора (Baxter Stephen)

cloud of gas all around us - has changed." Hollerbach replaced his glasses
and scratched the back of one age-spotted hand. "Do you know what I'm
talking about, boy? There are many nebulae here, around other Cores ...
the nearest is above our heads, beyond the Vanishing Point.
"The stars in the nebulae shine by burning hydrogen. When they die, after
a year or so, they leave more complex substances behind. The stars keep us
alive. They give us light and warmth; they provide the complex molecules
from which the native life - trees, skitters - is constructed, and which
are the raw materials for our supply machines.
"But our nebula is running out of hydrogen. Another few years and no more
stars."
Rees frowned. "What about us?"
Hollerbach shrugged cheerfully. "Well, the trees will die. And we'll fall.
And that will be that." He eyed the boy. "Unless some bright spark works
out what to do about it."
Carefully, Rees asked: "What's hydro-gen?"
Hollerbach laughed and clapped Rees' back. "You've got a lot to learn,
little expert, haven't you?" He studied Rees and seemed to come to a
decision. "Follow me," he barked.
He took Rees to an Observation Port at the centre of the Lab complex. Rees
stared. Most of the Ports he'd seen outside were simple windows set in the
deck - but this was a pool of light metres wide; it was encrusted with
instruments that peered into it like curious insects.
Hollerbach, grunting, lifted Rees up so he could see into a telescopic
monitor. As the magnification increased Rees felt he was plummeting into
the Core itself.
"Gravity is the great secret of this absurd place," Hollerbach said. "The
force of gravity is a billion times stronger here than in the universe we
came from. Do you know what that means? Even an object as puny as a man
has a significant gravity field. I can feel your weighty presence even
now, young Rees.
"And the celestial mechanics are a joke. If the solar system were moved
here, the sun's increased pull would whip Earth round its orbit in
seventeen minutes. Seventeen!
"The Core is the heart of this nebula. It's a black hole with the mass of
a galactic nucleus - ten thousand suns - but in this fairy-tale place it
isn't much larger than the solar system.
"The Core's gravity field is what holds the nebula together. The whole
thing, stars and all, is falling gradually into the black hole. But life
forms prosper, precariously, by being light enough to fly out of the
hole's grip. And we have survived by harnessing the flying trees ..."
Rees, understanding about one word in ten, just looked. The Core was a
blood-red sphere wreathed in mist. The light came from nebula material
falling into the Core, Hollerbach explained; the Core's gravitational fist
crushed it until it shone.
The voice of a crier came to them, calling out the shift change.
Hollerbach lowered Rees to the deck. "Now, listen to me. Take a few hours
a day off your chores and we'll see what you can learn. Chemistry, maths,
physics, the history of Earth - it might be entertaining ..."