"James P. Hogan - Craddle of Saturn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hogan James P)

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The pyramid was built such that, from the Eye Stone at the center of the semicircle of astronomers
and priests where the Speaker of Neveya stood, the orb was seen as if supported on its apex like a
cloud grazing a mountain. Since Neveya never changed her position in the sky, the disk remained
balanced in that manner always, varying only from yellow jewel through shrinking face to waning
crescent as the Sun rode its distant course about both her and the world, and the celestial Ocean
rose and dipped through its daily cycle. As the moment of the Dark Crossing approached, she
glowered at the world with full face, black and featureless, fading into the glare as the Sun
touched her shoulder.

The crowds assembled on the slopes were hushed as the Speaker intoned the Verses of Passage.
Around the temple and across the city below, torches had been lit in readiness for the Darkness.
At the top of the pyramid, Neveya reappeared suddenly out of the glare as a black arc sliding



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across the Sun, her shadow lying now like a black ray cut out of the Ocean, moment by moment
advancing closer. When it fell across the world, connecting it to Neveya like a bridge spanning
the Ocean, then, it was taught, the souls whose time had come to return would depart on their
journey.

A murmuring of awe and wonder, more a wind than a sound, stirred through the crowd as the sky
darkened. The astronomers readied their instruments and recording tablets, while the Speaker
turned, opening his robed arms wide to greet the spectacle. For an instant Neveya's outline flared
into a thin curve of light as if the extinguishing Sun were trying to claw its way back around the
edge. . . .

And then all the light went from the sky, and the stars appeared. Above and to one side of Neveya,
the pink globe of Jenas became visible, while beyond it Sephelgo's white-veined features shone as
crescents of crystal. Lower was Aniar, graying and mottled, swimming to the side of Neveya,
transfixed by the spear of the celestial sea seen edgewise, with the white speck of Delem farther
out still along the same line. As the astronomers peered and recited their measures, scribes
marked the stone that would later be cut for incorporation into the records.

The picture showed a disk pierced by a shallowly sloping line, standing on an arrowhead. Smaller
circles showed the other visible worlds and their dispositions, with major stars represented by
their symbols. A table incised beneath the design gave precise directions and elevations.

PART ONE
JUPITER
Creator of Worlds




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