"Clarke, Arthur C - Odissey Two" - читать интересную книгу автора (Clarke Arthur C)

'My people are doing the same calculations - but there are far too many variables.'

'We think we've removed one of them. Did you know that the very best water pumps you can buy belong to fire brigades? And would you be surprised to learn that the Beijing Central Station had four of its latest models suddenly requisitioned a few months ago, despite the protests of the mayor?'

'I'm not surprised - merely lost in admiration. Go on, please.'

'That may be a coincidence, but those pumps would be just the right size. Making educated guesses about pipe deployment, drilling through the ice and so on - well, we think they could lift off again in five days.'

'Five days!'

'If they're lucky, and everything works perfectly. And if they don't wait to fill their propellant tanks but merely take on just enough for a safe rendezvous with Discovery before we do. Even if they beat us by a single hour, that would be enough. They could claim salvage rights, at the very least.'

'Not according to the State Department's lawyers. At the appropriate moment, we'll declare that Discovery is not a derelict, but has merely been parked until we can retrieve it. Any attempt to take over the ship would be an act of piracy.'

'I'm sure the Chinese will be most impressed.'

'If they're not, what can we do about it?'

'We outnumber them - and two to one, when we revive Chandra and Curnow.'

'Are you serious? Where are the cutlasses for the boarding party?'

'Cutlasses?'

'Swords - weapons.'

'Oh. We could use the laser telespectrometer. That can vaporize milligram asteroid samples at ranges of a thousand kilometres.'

'I'm not sure that I like this conversation. My government certainly would not condone violence, except of course in self-defence.'

'You naive Americans! We're more realistic; we have to be. All your grandparents died of old age, Heywood. Three of mine were killed in the Great Patriotic War.'

When they were alone together, Tanya always called him Woody, never Heywood. She must be serious. Or was she merely testing his reactions?

'Anyway, Discovery is merely a few billion dollars' worth of hardware. The ship's not important - only the information it carries.'

'Exactly. Information that could be copied, and then erased.'

'You do get some cheerful ideas, Tanya. Sometimes I think that all Russians are a little paranoiac.'

'Thanks to Napoleon and Hitler, we've earned every right to be. But don't tell me that you haven't already worked out that - what do you call it, scenario? - for yourself.'

'It wasn't necessary,' Floyd answered rather glumly. 'The State Department's already done it for me - with variations. We'll just have to see which one the Chinese come up with. And I wouldn't be in the least surprised if they outguess us again.'



10

A Cry from Europa