"Evan Innes - America 2040 03 - City In The Mist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Innes Evan)

survivor of the Whorsk attack.

Aside from the hostility of the Whorsk, our most serious challenge is the lack of heavy metals in
OmegaтАЩs crust. Without rhenium, the metal that fuels our starship, Captain Rodrick would never be able
to complete his mission to take theSpirit of Americaback to Earth with a cargo of OmegaтАЩs fine food
plants, which have great potential for making the arid areas of the Earth green again. The lack of heavy
metals is now being overcome with the help of the giant miners. They trade the metallic ores they have
extracted from far beneath the surface for a synthetic lubricant we manufacture for their boring teeth .

WeтАЩve had a number of births and several weddings, the most notable of which was the double
ceremony of Captain Duncan Rodrick and Lieutenant Jackie Garvey, and Chief Engineer Max Rosen
and Dr. Grace Monroe. And although it does not make up for our losses, one person has been added to
our little colony. SheтАЩs a former marshal of the Soviet Union, no less. Theresita Pulaski was the only
survivor of the great starshipKarl Marx.She survived an incredible epic journey through OmegaтАЩs jungles
to be taken captive by the Whorsk, later to be rescued by Jacob West, a scout-ship pilot and Apache
Indian with a PhD in physics.

WeтАЩre still mystified by Theresita PulaskiтАЩs experiences, for, although it is biologically impossible for
Whorsk and humans to interbreed, it has been discovered that Theresita is pregnant. Under drugs and
hypnosis, she can vaguely rememberтАФalmost as if it were a dreamтАФmaking love with a very handsome
and very human man. This could only have happened during the time she was recovering from being
seriously mauled by a large predator along the Great Misty River, so our investigations are concentrated
on that river. If there is a life form on Omega so similar to humans that interbreeding is possible, we all
want to know about it. However, every surveillance flight of that area is fruitless because of a thick mist
that hangs over the entire river valley. It cannot be penetrated by our detection instruments.

And our main worry still plagues us: Was the Earth destroyed in a nuclear holocaust after our takeoff?
We didnтАЩt know whether to be disappointed or relieved when we discovered that Theresita Pulaski did
not have the answer either. Although theKarl Marxleft Earth after the Spirit of America,she too lost her
communications with Earth. Thus it was that Theresita will remain as ignorant as we, about whether the
EarthтАЩs leaders blundered into a final nuclear war, until we can accumulate enough rhenium to send the
Spirit of Americaback through space .

Meanwhile, life is good in Eden, although the work hours are long and our ability to establish the kind of
technological civilization necessary to continue our space travel has been severely impaired by the deaths
of many skilled people. I am confident, however, that with GodтАЩs help we will overcome and that soon
our great ship will roar upward on her rockets to return to the Earth and there discover whether we are
the last representatives of the American nation left alive. On a personal note, I am quite far along in my
study of Portuguese. IтАЩve had a chance to practice my Russian with Theresita, and she says my accent is
improving. I think IтАЩm adequate at Portuguese since it is so similar to Spanish, and, should we ever
contact the Brazilian expedition into space, aboard theEstr├кla do Brasil,I will be able to converse with
them .



I

WARNINGS FROM A SPACE BEACON
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