"Evan Innes - America 2040 02 - Golden World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Innes Evan)

The meat eaters that preyed on the little antelope were graceful feline types with pleasant heads, sleek,
streamlined bodies, and greenish-tan hides to blend with the native vegetation. The only truly
alien-looking creature to be seen by the expedition to that date were the scavenger birds, several of
which were sitting patiently in the trees along the creek. They were the size of an eagle, feather-less, with
slick-looking, leathery skin, and blunt heads equipped with teeth rather than a beak.
 A sudden commotion among the antelope took MandyтАЩs thoughts away from parallel evolution on two
planets so far from each other. A small, black, definitely not alien dog had dashed toward the antelope,
causing a moment of panic among the animals before the herd bull discovered his courage and ran, head
low, silvery horns a threat, to send Jumper the dog scurrying back to his master, Clay Girard.

Clay was sitting with the McRae family, close beside his foster sister, Cindy McRae. Clay and Cindy,
twelve years old when theSpirit of America left Earth, were nearing sixteen.

The little antelope chased Jumper to within a few yards of the McRae family and then turned, his short
tail jerking, to rejoin the herd. Big Stoner McRae was roaring with laughter at Jumpers expense.

Stoner had already tramped over a few square miles of the new planet. He was a big teddy bear of a
man who had once been a very good professional football linebacker with San DiegoтАФthe kind of
gentle, easygoing, big man who, just below the surface, has a solid steel core. Stoner had been chosen
for the expedition because he was the best mining engineer on Earth. Stoner and his wife, Betsy, hoped
to see their daughter, Cindy, and Clay Girard married someday. For the moment, Clay and Cindy were
content to be best friends.

Dapper Clive Baxter, the shipтАЩs head chemist, sat with his wife, Ellen, near Mandy Miller and Jack
Purdy. Ellen was a petite woman, even smaller than Clive. She was the starshipтАЩs head dietitian, all
business and quick movement. Clive had become more active in the ships social life since helping to
uncover the identity of the undercover Russian terrorist who had created havoc on the trip from Earth.
Mandy suspected that the small, mustachioed man had developed political ambitions.

тАЬAny time now,тАЭ Jack Purdy said, checking his button-watch. It was almost too warm for the
long-sleeved uniform. The scientists had determined that the planet was rotating on a tilted axis, like
EarthтАЩs, and the current season at this location on the new planet was late spring. Jack thought that
summer here might be rather warm.

From far off, seeming to come at them from all directions at once, there was a rumble like low, distant
thunder.

тАЬCome on down, baby,тАЭ Jack whispered at the sky. тАЬCome on down.тАЭ

A scattering of very high silvery clouds had moved in directly over them from the sea. They blocked the
view, so no one could see the starship as the sound of thunder grew into a throaty roar of multiple
rockets.

Jack had picked up a habit from his wife. As the rumble of theSpirit of America тАШs engines grew and
seemed to shake the ground, he crossed his fingers. He knew that it was a tense time aboard ship.



Down in the armored cubicle that was the heart of theSpirit of AmericaтАЩs weapons-control system,
Lieutenant Commander Paul Warden was the loneliest man on the ship. He braced himself in his couch