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

on the ground, I'll slip away."
"Maybe you ought to come and stay with us," Ken suggested.
Dig shook his head. "I've got a plan and I mean to carry it out. I came here to look for my
Dad and I won't give up until I find him."
The boys became silent. They stared out the viewport, watching the Moon swing into
view. Huge and round, the rugged landscape was pitted with countless craters, seas of dust
and steep mountain ranges.
Dig pointed to a particularly large crater. "You'll be living there, in the sides of that crater.
It's a lot bigger than it looks from here. The sides rise over 17,000 feet above the floor. And
it's fifty-five miles across!"
Jim whistled softly. "It's big, all right."
"Where's Luna City?" asked Ken.
"Above and to the right of Copernicus," Dig pointed. "In that small crater. Just below it is
Luna Spaceport."
"Can't see anything from here," Ken said.
"Most of the city is underground and carved inside the crater's wall," Dig told him. "Over
to the left of Luna City, above Copernicus, is the Carpathian mountain range. Most of the
mountains are unexplored."
"I'd like to explore those mountains," Jim said.
"Just south of the mountains," Dig continued, "is the Graveyard of Space ..."
"Graveyard of Space! It gives me the creeps ..." Ken shuddered. "What is it?"
 "Just a big junkyard," Dig replied with a smile. "Space-wrecks and ships too old to be
used safely are dumped there ... and forgotten. I used to play there when I was little."
The loudspeaker crackled and the pilot's voice filled the room.
"Attention! We land at Luna Spaceport in ten minutes. All passengers are requested to
strap in. That is all."
Dig turned to his friends.
"I guess it's time to say good-by. You'll have to get into your seats. Deceleration
pressure is going to be over three-gee."
"What about you?"
"I can take it on my feet," Dig replied. "I've landed on Mars and Venus many times with
my father. I've been flying the spaceways since I was a baby."
"I didn't know they let children on spaceships."
"I guess you don't know much about Space Explorers," Dig said with a smile. "They can
go anywhere, take anyone with them, do anything. Not even the Space Guards can give
orders to a Space Explorer."
"Sounds like they're the best of the spacemen," Ken remarked.
"I think so," Dig said proudly. "I didn't have anyone after my mother died. I was just a
baby. Dad ... well, we just had each other. So he took me with him."
Another warning over the loudspeaker informed the passengers that the landing would
take place in five minutes.
Dig Allen took out a yellow-colored spacesuit and slipped into it. The spacehelmet
resembled a fish-bowl and was made of unbreakable glassteel crystal. He held this in his
hand as he looked at his friends.
"I'll never forget your help."
He placed the spacehelmet over his head and clamped it into the tight-fitting collar. A
moment later, he shuffled out of the cabin, going toward the stern of the ship.
Jim and Ken were already feeling the pull of the Moon's gravity. The deck seemed to be
tilting upward. Soon the stern of the spaceship would become the floor and the deck a
vertical wall.