"Fred Hoyle - The Black Cloud" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hoyle Fred)

Jensen was excited when Marlowe dropped him at his lodging. Before he
turned in that night he wrote letters home, one to his parents telling them very
briefly of the unusual discovery, and another to Greta saying that he believed
that he'd stumbled on something important.
Marlowe drove to the Observatory offices. His first step was to get Mount
Wilson on the phone and to talk to Harvey Smith. When he heard Smith's soft
southern accent, he said:
"This is Geoff Marlowe. Look, Harvey, something pretty queer has turned up,
so queer that I'm wondering if you'd let me have the 60-inch for tonight. What is
it? I don't know what it is. That's just what I want to find out. It's to do with
young Jensen's work. Come down here at ten o'clock tomorrow and I'll be able to
tell you more about it. If you're bored I'll stand you a bottle of Scotch. That's
good enough for you? Fine! Tell the night assistant that I'll be up at about one
o'clock, will you?"
Marlowe next put through a call to Bill Barnett of Caltech.
"Bill, this is Geoff Marlowe ringing from the offices. I wanted to tell you that
there'll be a pretty important meeting here tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. I'd
like you to come along and to bring a few theoreticians along. They don't need to
be astronomers. Bring several bright boys ... No I can't explain now. I'll know
more tomorrow. I'm going on the 60-inch tonight. But I'll tell you what, if you
think by lunch-time tomorrow that I've got you out on a wild-goose chase, I'll
stand you a crate of Scotch ... Fine!"
He hummed with excitement as he hurried down to the basement where
Jensen had been working earlier in the evening. He spent some three-quarters of
an hour measuring Jensen's plates. When at last he was satisfied that he would
know exactly where to point the telescope, he went out, climbed into his car, and
drove off towards Mount Wilson.
Dr. Herrick, the Director of the Observatory, was astonished to find Marlowe
waiting for him when he reached his office at seven-thirty the following morning.
It was the Director's habit to start his day some two hours before the main body
of his staff, "in order to get some work done," as he used to say. At the other
extreme, Marlowe usually did not put in an appearance until ten-thirty, and
sometimes later still. This day, however, Marlowe was sitting at his desk,
carefully examining a pile of about a dozen positive prints. Herrick's surprise was
not lessened when he heard what Marlowe had to say. The two men spent the
next hour and a half in earnest conversation. At about nine o'clock they slipped
out for a quick breakfast, and returned in time to make preparations for a
meeting to be held in the library at ten o'clock.
When Bill Barnett's party of five arrived they found some dozen members of
the Observatory already assembled, including Jensen, Rogers, Emerson and
Harvey Smith. A blackboard had been fitted up and a screen and lantern for
showing slides. The only member of Barnett's party who had to be introduced
round was Dave Weichart. Marlowe, who had heard a number of reports of the
abilities of this brilliant twenty-seven-year-old physicist, noted that Barnett had
evidently done his best to bring a bright boy along.
"The best thing I can do," began Marlowe, "is to explain things in a
chronological way, starting with the plates that Knut Jensen brought to my house
last night. When I've shown them you'll see why this emergency meeting was
called."
Emerson, who was working the lantern, put in a slide that Marlowe had made