"Zach Hughes - Deep Freeze" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

moments the slowly turning world took on a pale hue of that most
wonderful of colors. He ordered the computer to check focus. He shielded
his eyes as brilliant reflected sunlight gleamed on the screen before the
optics could make a corrective adjustment.

Fran's World, the second planet of a G-class star, was a spheroid of
glimmering ice. There was water on the world, but it was locked into a
mass of snow and ice that covered the surface almost evenly. Dan was so
disappointed that he turned off the viewer and punched up a drink.

Fran came to stand beside him, pressing her soft flank against him.
"There are the mining rights," she said.

"Yes, we can file for discoverer's royalty on any useful minerals," Dan
said.

"Papa, how many stars have we examined?"

"Two."

"Don't you remember what we read? People who make a profession of
exploration can go for decades without finding a star that has planets."

"Thank you," Dan said, patting her. "You always know what I'm
thinking, don't you?"

She laughed. "Well, if I don't know you by nowтАФ"

"Some useful heavy metals may have boiled to the surface on the first
planet," Dan said.

"We haven't checked for moons around the gas giants, either."
 "You're right. Let's have a look."

It took some sublight maneuvering to examine the several moons of the
large planets. A couple of them looked promising. Dan named five of them
after his children, and applied the names of some of the grandchildren to
the others. Deciding which moon to name after which child was a fun
thing. The investigations of the moons filled a couple of months. They
went about it in a leisurely fashion, taking time to get a full night's sleep,
time to watch a film together, time to snuggle close in their large bed and
do interesting things.

Old Folks edged cautiously into the solar storm of particles to come
near enough to the one planet to record some encouraging readings of
heavy metals, then got the hell out of there quickly, for the ship's radiation
detectors were getting a bit worried. Dan parked the ship in an orbit
around the second planet while he readied his claims for filing. Old Folks
would have to blink back within range of the first Rimfire beacon before
the announcement of discovery and the proper forms could be blinked