"Heinlein, Robert A - Nothing Ever Happens On The Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

Sam led out of the hills and across a baked plain. He
hit an eight-mile gait, increased it to a twelve-miler. Bruce swung along, enjoying it. УSwell of you to do this, Sam.Ф
УNuts. If I werenТt here, IТd be helping to seal the gymnasium.Ф
УJust the same, I need this hike for my Mooncraft badge.Ф
Sam let several strides pass. УLook, BruceЧyou donТt really expect to make Lunar Eagle?Ф
УWhy not? IТve got my optional badges. There are only four required ones that are terribly different:
camping, Mooncraft, pathfinding, and pioneering. IТve studied like the dickens and now IТm getting experience.
УI donТt doubt youТve studied. But the Review Board are tough eggs. YouТve got to be a real Moon hand to get by.Ф
УThey wonТt pass a Scout from Earth?Ф
УPut it this way. The badges you need add up to one thing, Mooncraft. The examiners are old Moon hands; you wonТt get by with book answers. TheyТll know how long youТve been here and theyТll know you donТt know enough.Ф
Bruce thought about it. УItТs not fair!Ф
Sam snorted. УMooncraft isnТt a game; itТs the real thing. СDid you stay alive?Т If you make a mistake, you flunkЧand they bury you.Ф
Bruce had no answer.
Presently they came to hills; Sam stopped and called Base Camp. УParsons and Hollifield, Troop OneЧplease take a bearing.Ф
Shortly Base replied, УOne one eight. WhatТs your mark?Ф
УCairn with a note.Ф
УRoger.Ф
Sam piled up stones, then wrote date, time, and their names on paper torn from a pad in his pouch, and laid it on top. УNow we start up.Ф
The way was rough and unpredictable; this canyon
had never been a watercourse. Several times Sam stretched a line before he would let Bruce follow. At intervals he blazed the rock with his hammer. They came to an impasse, five hundred feet of rock, the first hundred of which was vertical and smooth.
Bruce stared. УWeТre going up that?Ф
УSure. Watch your Uncle Samuel.Ф A pillar thrust up above the vertical pitch. Sam clipped two lines together and began casting the bight up toward it. Twice he missed and the line floated down. At last it went over.
Sam drove a piton into the wall, off to one side, clipped a snap ring to it, and snapped on the line. He had Bruce join him in a straight pull on the free end to test the piton. Bruce then anchored to the snap ring with a rope strap; Sam started to climb.
Thirty feet up, he made fast to the line with his legs and drove another piton; to this he fastened a safety line. Twice more he did this. He reached the pillar and called, УOff belay!Ф
Bruce unlinked the line; it snaked up the cliff. Presently Sam shouted, УOn belay!Ф
Bruce answered, УTesting,Ф and tried unsuccessfully to jerk down the line Sam had lowered.
УClimb,Ф ordered Sam.
УClimbing.Ф One-sixth gravity, Bruce decided, was a mountaineerТs heaven. He paused on the way up only to unsnap the safety line.
Bruce wanted to УleapfrogФ up the remaining pitches, but Sam insisted on leading. Bruce was soon glad of it; he found three mighty differences between climbing on Earth and climbing here; the first was low gravity, but the others were disadvantages: balance climbing was awkward in a suit, and chimney climbing, or any involving knees and shoulders, was clumsy and carried danger of tearing the suit.
They came out on raw, wild upland surrounded by pinnacles, bright against black sky. УWhere to?Ф asked Bruce.
Sam studied the stars, then pointed southeast. УThe photomaps show open country that way.Ф
УSuits me.Ф They trudged away; the country was too rugged to lope. They had been traveling a long time, it seemed to Bruce, when they came out on a higher place from which Earth could be seen. УWhat time is it?Ф he asked.
УAlmost seventeen,Ф Sam answered, glancing up.
УWeТre supposed to be back by midnight.Ф
УWell,Ф admitted Sam, УI expected to reach open country before now.Ф
УWeТre lost?Ф
УCertainly not! IТve blazed it. But IТve never been here before. I doubt if anyone has.Ф
УSuppose we keep on for half an hour, then turn back?Ф
УFair enough.Ф They continued for at least that; Sam conceded that it was time to turn.
УLetТs try that next rise,Ф urged Bruce.
УOkay.Ф Sam reached the top first. УHey, BruceЧwe made it!Ф
Bruce joined him. УGolly!Ф Two thousand feet below stretched a dead lunar plain. Mountains rimmed it except to the south. Five miles away two small craters formed a figure eight.
УI know where we are,Ф Sam announced. УThat pair shows up on the photos. We slide down here, circle south about twenty miles, and back to Base. A cinchЧ howТs your air?Ф
BruceТs bottle showed fair pressure; SamТs was down, he having done more work. They changed both bottles and got ready. Sam drove a piton, snapped on a ring, fastened a line to his belt and passed it through the ring. The end of the line he passed between his legs, around a thigh and across his chest, over his shoulder and to his other hand, forming a rappel seat. He began to УwalkФ down the cliff, feeding slack as needed.
He reached a shoulder below Bruce. УOff rappel!Ф he called, and recovered his line by pulling it through the ring.
Bruce rigged a rappel seat and joined him. The pitches became steeper; thereafter Sam sent Bruce down first, while anchoring him above. They came to a last high sheer drop. Bruce peered over. УLooks like here we roost.Ф
УMaybe.Ф Sam bent all four lines together and measured it. Ten feet of line reached the rubble at the base.
Bruce said, УItТll reach, but we have to leave the lines behind us.Ф
Sam scowled. УGlass lines cost money; theyТre from Earth.Ф
УBeats staying here.Ф