"01 - The Black Star Passes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Campbell John W Jr)

SUDDENLY THE BLAZING SUN was gone and they were floating in a vast world of rolling mistsЧmists that brushed the car with tiny clicks, which, with the millions of particles that struck simultaneously, merged into a steady roar.

"IceЧice clouds!" Morey exclaimed.

Arcot nodded. "We'll drop below the clouds; they're probably miles deep. Look, already they're changingЧ snow nowЧin a moment it will be waterЧthen it'll clear away and we'll actually see Venus!"

For ten milesЧan endless distance it seemedЧthey dropped through clouds utterly impenetrable to the eye. Then gradually the clouds thinned; there appeared brief clear spots, spots into which they could see short distancesЧthen here and there they caught glimpses of green below. Was it waterЧor land?

With a suddenness that startled them, they were out of the clouds, shooting smoothly and swiftly above a broad plain. It seemed to stretch for endless miles across the globe, to be lost in the far distance to end and west; but to the north they saw a low range of hills that rose blue and misty in the distance.

"Venus! We made it!" Morey cried jubilantly. "The first men ever to leave earthЧI'm going to start the old sender and radio back home! ManЧlook at that stretch of plain!"

He jumped to his feet and started across the control room. "LordЧI feel like a ton of lead nowЧI sure am out of condition for walking after all that time just floating!"

Arcot raised a restraining hand. "WhoaЧwait a minute there, MoreyЧyou won't get anything through to them now. The earth is on the other side of VenusЧit's on the night side, rememberЧand we're on the day side. In about twelve hours we'll be able to send a message. In the meantime, take the controls while I make a test of the air here, will you?"

Relieved of the controls, Arcot rose and walked down the corridor to the power room where the chemical laboratory had been set up. Wade had already collected a dozen samples of air, and was working on them.

"How is itЧwhat have you tested for so farF' asked Arcot.

"Oxygen and CO2. The oxygen is about twenty-two per cent, or considering the slightly lower air pressure here, we will have just about the right amount of oxygen. The CC>2 is about one-tenth of one per cent. The atmosphere is O.K. for terrestrial life apparently; that mouse there is living quite happily. Whatever the other seventy-five per cent or so of diluting gas is, I don't know, but it isn't nitrogen."

Briefly Arcot and Wade discussed the unusual atmosphere, finally deciding that the inert gas was argon.

"No great amount of nitrogen," Arcot concluded. "That means that life will have a sweet time extracting it from the airЧbut wherever there is life, it finds a way to do the impossible. Test it more accurately, will youЧyou try for nitrogen and I'll try the component inert gasses."

They ran the analyses rapidly, and in a very short time Чless than an hourЧtheir results stood at 23 per cent oxygen, .1 per cent carbon dioxide, 68 per cent argon, 6 per

cent nitrogen, 2 per cent helium, 5 per cent neon, .05 per cent hydrogen, and the rest krypton and xenon apparently. The analyses of these inert gasses had to be done rather roughly in this short time, but ii was sufficient to balance fairly accurately.

The two chemists reported back to the control cabin.

"Well, we'll be able to breathe the atmosphere of Venus with ease. I believe we can go on now. I have been surprised to see no water in sight, but I think I see my mistake now. You know the Mississippi has its mouth further from the center of the earth than its source; it flows up hill! The answer is, of course, that the centrifugal force of the earth's spin impels it to flow that way. Similarly, I am sure now that we will find that Venus has a vast belt of water about the middle, and to the north and south there will be two great caps of dry land. We are on the northern cap.

"We have the microphone turned way down. Let's step up the power a bit and see if there are any sounds outside," said Arcot and walked over to the power control switch. An instant later a low hum came from the loudspeaker. There was a light breeze blowing. In the distance, forming a dull background for the hum, there came a low rumbling that seemed punctuated now and then by a greater sound.

"Must be a long way off," said Arcot, a puzzled frown on his face. "Swing the ship around so we can see in what direction the sound is loudest," he suggested.

Slowly Morey swung the ship around on its vertical axis. Without a doubt, something off in the direction of the hills was making a considerable noise.

"Arcot, if that's a fight between two animalsЧtwo of those giant animals that you said might be hereЧI don't care to get near them!" Fuller's narrowed eyes strove to

penetrate the haze that screened the low hills in the blue distance.

The microphone was shut off while the Solarite shot swiftly forward toward the source of the sound. Quickly the hills grew, the blue mistiness disappearing, and the jagged mounds revealing themselves as bleak harsh rock. As they drew nearer they saw beyond the hills, intermittent flashes of brilliant light, heard shattering blasts of sound.

"A thunderstorm!" Wade began, but Arcot interrupted.

"Not so fast, WadeЧFuller's animal is thereЧthe only animal in all creation that can make a noise like that! Look through the telescopeЧsee those dots wheeling about there above the flashing lights? The only animal that can make that racket is man! There are men over thereЧand they aren't in a playful mood! Turn on the invisibility while we can, MoreyЧand let's get nearer!"