"David Grinnell- To Venus! To Venus!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grinnell David)

"You are so right." Jim smiled then he looked puzzled. "But how did you
know about the snap?"

"I didn't. I was just hoping. I think we may be in luck. It sounds as if
the problem is nothing more than a broken shearpin, and I brought along
a spare. We ought to be underway inside of ten minutes."

"Well, if it's that easy," Jim said, "you'd think they would tell us about it
so that we could fix it ourselves."

"They did."

"Oh." He watched as Chet removed the broken pin and slipped the new
one into place. Then an idea occurred to him.

"But won't whatever caused it to break in the first place have the same
effect on this one? I mean, nothing's changed inside, has it?"

Chet finished his repairs but left the floorplate out of place. "No,
nothing's changed," he explained, "but nine times out of ten when these
things go, it's because of ordinary fatigue. Unless you were jammed and
tried to force the moonwalker through, the chances are we'll be on our
way."

"Nothing jammed and I didn't force anything," Jim said. He sounded
relieved.

Chet climbed into the driver's seat, which was perched high on a pole
which slanted out of the floor. Jim took the navigator's seat to the right of
the driver; the moonwalker could be operated from either location, but
Jim was delighted to ride as a passenger. They buckled on their shoulder
harnesses and Chet threw the main switch, which activated the
instrument panel. All gauges showed normal with ample power reserves
indicated. Through long habit, he read out each gauge, and Jim's eyes
flickered over the panel as he followed the routine. Finally Chet closed his
heavily gloved fingers over the motor switch and moved it to the on
position.

The microphones in his helmet picked up the answering hum and the
slight vibration testified that the motor was turning efficiently. He
increased power and reached for the clutch shaft. He eased it forward
slowly and the giant revolving legs on either side of the cabin came to life.
Lurching and heaving like some giant beetle, the moonwalker moved
ahead as it started to climb the slope. At once, Chet pulled back the clutch
and reduced power to minimum idling. He spun the crank which locked
the clutch into neutral and unfastened his harness.
 "I guess we're okay," he said simply.

"Thank heavens," Jim breathed fervently.