"Ben Bova - Life As We Know It" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bova Ben)

The infrared image indeed looked as if it was plunging toward the surface of a
turbulent ocean. Radar showed more detail. Waves, crests and troughs racing
madly across the screen. A rough sea down there. A very turbulent, storm-tossed
ocean.

"Immersion in three minutes," said mission control. The probe was going to hit
those waves. It was designed to sink slowly to a depth of about a hundred
kilometers, where it would -- we hoped -- attain a neutral buoyancy and float
indefinitely.

Of course, if we saw something interesting at a shallower depth the probe could
eject some of its ballast on command and rise accordingly. The trouble was that
it took more than ten hours for any of our commands to reach the probe. We had
to pray that whatever we found wouldn't go away in the course of ten hours--
just about a full revolution of the planet, a whole Jovian day.

I summoned up all my courage and sidled closer to Allie, squeezing slowly
through the crush of bodies. They were all staring at the screens, ignoring me,
watching the ocean waves and the streams of low-level clouds streaking past.
Storm clouds, swirling viciously.

I pushed between Allie and Lopez-Oyama. Not daring to try to say anything to
her, I looked down on the boss's balding pate and half-whispered, "I didn't
think we'd get much from the blue at this level."

He was so short that he had to crane his neck to look at me. He said nothing
just nodded in his inscrutable way.

Allie was almost my own height. We were nearly eye to eye.

"The infrared is fabulous," she said. To me!

"It is working pretty well, isn't it?" Be modest in triumph. All the books of
advice I had studied told me that women appreciated men who were successful, yet
not boastful; strong but sensitive.

"It won't work as well once it's underwater, though, will it?" she asked.

I suppressed the urge to grab her and carry her off. Instead, I deliberately
turned to look at the screens instead of her cool hazel eyes.

"That's when the blue or blue-green should come into its own," I said, trying to
keep my voice from trembling.

"If the laser works," said Lopez-Oyama. It was almost a growl. He was distinctly
unhappy that I had stepped between him and Allie.

Mission control announced, "Impact in ten seconds."