"Dragons Dawn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

Possibly those polka dots they saw are from a meteorite storm.л
Ted dismissed that instantly. ╗No. No impact, and the formation of
new growth does not parallel that sort of phenomenon. I intend looking into
that problem the first moment I can.л
╗What we have to do first,л Mar Dook said, his tone gently
reproving, ╗is select the appropriate sites, plow, test, and, where
necessary, introduce the symbiotic bacteria and fungi, even beetles needed
for pastureland.л
╗But we still don┤t know which landing site will be chosen.л Ted┤s
face was flushed with irritation.
╗The three that are now being surveyed are much of a muchness,л Mar
Dook replied with a tolerant smile. He found Tubberman┤s petulant
restlessness tedious. ╗All three give us ample scope for experimental and
control fields. Our basic tasks will be the same no matter where we land.
The essential point is not to miss this first vital growing season.л
╗The brood animals must be revived as soon as possible.л Pol Nietro
said. The head zoologist was as eager as everyone else to plunge into the
practical work ahead. ╗And reliance on the alfalfa trays for fodder is not
going to adjust their digestions to a new environment. We must begin as we
mean to go on, and let Pern supply our needs.л
There was a murmur of assent to his statement.
╗The only new factor in these reports,л Phas Radamanth, the
xenobiologist, said encouragingly, without turning his eyes from his
screens, ╗is the density of vegetation. We may have to clear more than we
thought in the forty-five south eleven site. See here -- л He gestured to
the disparate images. ╗Where the EEC pic showed sparse ground cover, we now
have heavy vegetation, some of it of respectable size.л
╗There should be at least that, after two-hundred-odd years,л Ted
Tubberman said irritably. ╗I never was happy about the barrenness Smacked
of a depauperate ecology. Hey, most of those circular features are
overgrown. Felicia, run up the EEC pics that correspond. He bent his big
frame to peer over her shoulder at the double screen below the probe
broadcast. ╗See, those circles are barely discernible. The team was right
about botanical succession. And that isn┤t a grassoid. If that┤s mutant
vegetation . . .л He trailed off, shaking his head and jutting his chin
out. He had loudly and frequently insisted that the success of Pern as a
colony would depend on botanical health.
╗I, too, am happier to see succession, but according to the EEC
reports, it┤s -- л Mar Dook began.
╗Shove the EEC reports. They didn┤t tell us the half of what we
really need to know,л Ted exclaimed. ╗Survey, they called it. Quick dip at
the trot. No depth to it at all. The most superficial survey I┤ve ever
read.л
╗I quite agree,л said the calm voice of Emily Boll, who had entered
while the botanist was ranting. ╗The initial EEC report does seem to have
been less than complete now that we can compare it to our new home. But the
most crucial, salient points were covered for us. We know what we needed to
know, and the FSP was quite happy to turn the planet over to us because it
certainly doesn┤t have anything to interest them. And it┤s not a planet
that the syndicates would fight over. Which is why we were allowed to have