"Zach Hughes - Pressure Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Zach)

ked as if he might disintegrate at any moment. He vp@ ung Now
and then a few cells would
had I problems.
ow a bubble in lung tissue and he'd have a rest in the spital . is hair was
black and lank, his skin pocked ancient acne, his eyes alert. He was smoking.
Art reckless. At parties he courted blowing a lung by @Amokmg, drinking, and
keeping up with the most vigor- ;4_ on the dance floor. He knew more about
metals any man alive. "Nice to see you, Art," Dom said.
21-
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Zach Hughes
"You want to get out of bed now?" J.J. said, with some irritation. "No," Dom
said. "OK,,if you don't want to watch a man ride a bomb," J.J. said. "I'd
rather watch a woman do almost anything," Dom said, but he swung his
legs off the bed and ducked his head down when it started to spin. A nurse
came out of the shadows and attacked him without warning with a pointed
weapon. Almost immediately the. drug began to counteract the sedative.
He -was dressed within mG&es and joined J.J. and Art in the hall. There was no
conversation in the elevator nor in the lower lobby, It was not until they
were riding one of the hack-breaking underground cars that J.1. explained.
"We've got a test vehicle waiting about half an astronomical unit out toward
Polaris," J.J. said. "The new power plant?" "First live run." "Who's on it?'9
"Neil."
Neil was Neil Walters. In space circles it was not necessary to use his last
name. "Couldnt ask for better," Dom -said.
He had not seen the control facility. It was a miniatureHouston, and the
duplication amazed him- He began to wonder what else he didn't know about
DOSEWEX.
J.J. led the way to a good seat directly behind'the contact men and the
consoles. Communications were established. It was that old, old simplicity of
a pilot talking to the control tower. A mid-twentieth-century airlines pilot
would have recognized the form "and the cant Of the exchange, except,
possibly, for a few tech.
PRESSURE MAN
23
S. Countdown was underway. Checklists were
many on board?" Dom asked. t Neil."
risk?" Dom asked. knows it," J.J. said. that smart?" Dom asked. "Neff's
the closest ,to a hero the space service has."
switch on," said a controller.
later, the lag telling of the distance between I ed room and Neil Walters'
precarious perch a new nuclear engine in deep space, his voice calm. His
voice was always calm. "Retro switch -Neil rode a test body all the way down
into the
regaining control just in time to make the crash ble'- and his tone of voice
never changed. Only last moment had he stopped talking his mattert reports of
engineering gone wrong and com-
haywire to perform superhuman things. The padding was impressed with the shape
of his After a few weeks for allowing bones to knit, he a reengineered body
into the troposphere for a run. -f,@ "ItT be about fifteen minutes," J.J.