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

"Do you have any ideas yet why he selected me?" "Not officially. There's
nothing on paper to connect you with me or any aspect of DOSE other than the
Spacearm. However, in the eyes of the Earthfirsters, any man coming into
DOSEWEX is a high-priority target. It's likely that the DOSE vehicle was
enough to make you a target. They're getting less and less selective. Just
being a- spacer is enough to get you killed." "I know that I'm used to
spending'my time in a guarded enclave while I'm on dear old mother Earth."
"And all you want to do is get back into space," LJ. said. "'You know it."
13 PRESSURE MAN
going to take a while," I.J. said. "You're being
pacearm duty and assigned here." )cdoff S Thanks for no-thing," Dom said.
,;AUrnes unlocked a deft drawer and put a player on top of the desk. "I guess
it's time," he said. "Weve ,,'@@ed out the time lapse between dialogue.@' He
d a button. The sound of deep space filled the room. There was
familiar hiss and crackle of the big emptiness and a
of homesickness hit Dom as he leaned forward. voices were calm and
professional, the voices of c , good at their work, a long way from home,
to Earth only by fragile radio waves. ton Control, this is Callisto Explorer.
Zero-three-five hours CSET. Do you read?"
oa Callisto Explorer." "Wouston, request check of vehicles in area J-77J.
epeat. Request check of all vehicles in area
43.12 "Hold one, Callisto Explorer. Stand by, Callisto Explorer U.K. ship
Queen Anne is nearest you, beyond your instruments at 186 degrees relative
reference point two-seven-Baker. U.S.S.R. exploration ship Khrushchev relative
your position 313 degrees reference point two-nine-Baker." "Houston, Callisto
Explorer. Request check bearing relative our position zero-nine-seven,
reference point three-three-Charlie. Do you copy?" "Got you, Callisto. Hold
one. Nothing there but empty space."
ItHouston, unless your computer is fouled up, there's a bogie out there."
"Callisto Explorer, repeat please." "Houston, weve got a bogie. Closing on the
orbit of Jupiter. Estimated speed one hundred thousand miles per second.
Repeat, estimated speed one hundred thou-
14
Zach Hughes
sand miles per second. Mass estimated at three-zerozero-zero tons. Repeat,
three-zero-zero-zero tons. Houston, we are tracking. Bogie on collision course
with planetary mass. E.T.A. outer atmosphere four, hours twenty-three
minutes." "Callisto Explorer, are you filming?" "That is affirmative. We are
filming. Is that you, Paul? Listen, this thing is really something. Hold it.
Hold one. Yes, we now have visual. What's that, Dell? Let me see. Jesus, that
bastard is big. Houston? Put this baby on the ground and you could lay four
football fields inside her length. Estimated length, fourzero-zero yards.
Profile cylindrical, tapered at both ends. No visible blast. Possible
thrusters at rear.-She's closing fast." "Callisto Explorer, where is your
bogie now?". "She's going to pass behind the planet relative to us in
approximately five minutes, Houston. Hold it. Dell, did you see what I saw?
Houston, there was some sort of activity aboard the bogie. A glow. it showed
on our visual -and on the heat scopes. Front and relative the planet. Possible
braking activity. Yes, she's slowed slightly. Houston, she slowed faster than
is possible. She. took oft fifty percent of her speed in ten seconds. We're