"William Forstchen - Article 23" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forstchen William R)

"All passengers please remain seated," the computer requested. "We will now accelerate up to our
maximum speed of seven thousand two hundred kilometers per hour. Our arrival time at Geosynch Orbit
Base is scheduled for 1919 Greenwich Space Time."

"Here we go!" Brian said. "This is my favorite part."

Justin felt as if he had been kicked in the pants. He raised his arm and it felt decidedly heavy. Looking
over at a computer terminal display, he saw that they had just hit 2.1 gees acceleration and were holding.
Their speed quickly climbed through a thousand kilometers an hour. The side of the tower became a blur.
They crossed through two thousand and then three thousand kilometers per hour, the car riding smoothly.
Downbound cars on other tracks snapped by and were soon almost impossible to see except for a flash
of light that shot past in the blink of an eye.

He turned his head to one side and saw the curvature of the Earth sweeping away. All of Central

America and southern Mexico were clearly visible along with the turquoise blue of the Caribbean Sea.
Feeling slightly dizzy, he turned to look straight back up and closed his eyes for a minute.

"Acceleration is complete. Please feel free to get up out of your seats," the computer announced. "If you
should feel hungry, refreshments are being served on the bottom deck."

Justin gulped hard and waited for a moment but his stomach didn't give any signs that it wanted to rebel.
He looked over at the gravity meter on the computer screen. As the ear climbed farther away from Earth,
gravity would slowly drop away to only a fraction of surface gravity at the top of the tower. But the car
would slowly continue to accelerate, holding at a steady 2 gee until final deceleration.

"Let's get some grub and watch the show down below," Brian said.
Matt, feeling a bit shaky, followed them over to the small spiral staircase rather than wait for the elevator.
They went down the three levels to the bottom floor of the car, and as they stepped out Matt gasped in
surprise. The floor was covered in plexishield, and the bottom cover had been retracted. Earth, now
nearly three thousand kilometers away, was visible directly below his feet.

He stood there for a moment, absolutely amazed by the view. The entire sphere of the Earth was now
visible, filling up most of space below, as was the long thin needle of the tower going straight down until it
simply disappeared from view.

Matt shook his head and moved to join Brian at a table in the corner of the room but Justin found that he
wasn't hungry at the moment. He was far more interested in watching Earth as it slowly dropped away.

The first-timers stood around like him, looking down, some of them nervous, others excited, while the old
hands at space travel picked up the snack which was being served out by a 'bot and headed back up to
their more comfortable seats on the main decks. Justin finally wandered over to join his friends and
settled down into a reclining chair beside the table, ignoring the sardonic grins of Matt and Brian over his
concession to the gee pull.

"A cadet has to look like an old hand whether he is or not," Brian said dryly. "Even if the sun should go
supernova, don't get excited and don't stand there gaping like a tourist."

"Can't help it," Justin answered quietly. "It's just that the view is so incredible."