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

HumankindтАЩs eternal task, when dealing with machines, was to see that the malfunction didnтАЩt occur at a
crucial timeтАж such as when landing megatons of mass balanced on the pillars of fire of one hundred
rockets.

тАЬSystems check,тАЭ Rodrick ordered in his laid-back, informal command voice.

тАЬCommunications operative,тАЭ Lieutenant Jacqueline Garvey said.

тАЬComputers operative,тАЭ said little Japanese-American Emi Zuki.

Ito Zuki, EmiтАЩs husband, spoke from his seat directly beside his wife. тАЬNavigation system operative.
Landing sequence programmed.тАЭ

Chief Engineer Max RosenтАЩs voice came soft and lazy to Rodrick through the communicator. Rodrick
had come to know and value Max Rosen during the years in space, and he knew that MaxтАЩs tone of
voice indicated tension.

тАЬRocket engine firing system armed and ready,тАЭ Rosen reported.

Rodrick smiled. He could almost picture RosenтАЩs face, screwed up into its perpetual expression of pure
agony.

тАЬHull cooling system operative,тАЭ said the electrical engineer, Sage Bryson.

тАЬWeapons system armed and ready.тАЭ Lieutenant Commander Paul Warden, the old jock, was stationed
behind the thick armor plates of theSpirit of America тАШs weapons control center, ready to blast any
threatening entity with beams, rays, projectiles, and rockets.

It was easy, Rodrick thought, for some to forget that a ready weapons system was an integral part of the
landing procedure. After all, Jack Purdy, chief scout, had been down on the planet s surface for over
twenty days, and a sizable group of passengers had already been shuttled down to join him. These two
hundred plus people, who now sat on a low, grassy hill to watch the ship come in, were another
indication of RodrickтАЩs innate cautiousness. TheSpirit of America had never been landed. Should
anything happen on the way down, there would be a solid core of people safely on the surface, to assure
survival of the colony.

All this was going through RodrickтАЩs mind as he heard Paul WardenтАЩs voice reporting the status of the
shipтАЩs weapons systems, and thinking of Warden in weapons control made Rodrick feel better. He liked
the man, drank with him on occasion, called him, with affection, the no-neck monster because Warden
was built like a wrestler, with a thick chest, big arms, and highly developed deltoid muscles, which made
it look as if his head sat directly on his shoulders.

First Officer Rocky Miller, whose function it was to stand ready to fill any position on the control bridge
in the event of emergency, looked at the captain out of the corner of his eye. Miller was taller than
Rodrick, and more muscular; he spent long hours in the gym. Rocky Miller had not agreed with the
captainтАЩs decision to land two hundred selected people by scout ship. As he let his eyes swing swiftly
over the array of instruments, he was thinking that Rodrick had the looks of a man who had been
spooked. Rodrick, Miller felt, put up a good front, but at times during the trip out, the captain, in MillerтАЩs
opinion, had been on the verge of losing his judgment in tight situations.