"Joseph Green - Forgotten Star" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Joseph)

combination of colors.
"Self-contained units," Keith Barry explained, steering the boys to one painted in
alternate strips of black and white. "This one is ours. It's as good as a spaceship and just as
comfortable. You can live on board for weeks."
"Is that our identification number?" Ken asked, pointing to the lettering on the side.
"Yes, that's us, C-52," his father said. "Remember it."
He opened the door and motioned the boys inside. There was a small airlock and
beyond that the control cabin, roomier than the boys expected it to be.
"There's a storeroom in back," Mrs. Barry told the boys while her husband started the
engine. "We keep our food, water, oxygen and fuel there."
"No kitchen?" Jim asked with a smile.
"Yes," his mother laughed. "Also a small kitchen unit."
"You boys can start learning right now," the scientist called to Jim and Ken as he
steered the Cat down the center of the huge chamber.
The boys took seats beside their father and watched him guide the machine toward the
massive door of the airlock.
When they were inside, the hatch behind them slid shut and the scientist turned to the
two boys.
"It'll take a minute or so to pump out the air," he said. "In the meantime, I'll show you how
this works."
There were three levers mounted on the control board. The scientist indicated the
middle one.
"You push this forward to go ahead. Pull it back to reverse," he said. "The other two
control the left and right tracks separately and are used to turn the Cat."
"How about the speed?"
"The accelerator is on the floor. The harder you press down on it, the faster your speed.
Any questions?"
"No, sir," Jim replied. "Seems simple enough."
"It is, with a little practice."
The outer hatch of the airlock rolled upward. Dr. Barry pushed the middle lever forward
and the Cat rumbled out.
Before them was the bleak and desolate landscape of the Moon. Dr. Barry turned the
Cat into a road that stretched ahead like a thin flat ribbon, and pressed down on the
accelerator.
From the purple-black of the sky above, the sunlight blazed down sharply. In the
distance loomed a great range of mountains.
"The Carpathian Mountains?" Ken asked, pointing.
His father nodded. "We'll pass them on our right."
As they drew closer, they could see the cold, bare rocks tumbled in weird shapes.
Gaunt spires of granite, jagged crags, and masses of piled boulders reached grimly
spaceward. And over all hung an eerie stillness.
"Now, boys, what about Digby Allen?" Keith Barry said. "Suppose you start from the
beginning."
Quickly, the boys recounted the story of their meeting with the red-haired boy. The
scientist did not interrupt but waited patiently until they had finished.
"I'm sorry for Dig Allen," Keith Barry said. "But he's doing a foolish and dangerous thing.
How does he expect to find Captain Allen when the Space Guards couldn't?"
"There's no hope, then?" Ken asked.
"No, not after all these months."
"What really happened, Dad? Do you know?"