"Geoffrey Landis - Ecopoiesis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Landis Geoffrey A)

attention to their claim. For decades, Mars was the subject of intense
scientific scrutiny. In a few more years Toynbee went bankrupt, for ecopoiesis
paid no bills. Technologically obsolete, the colony itself was ripped apart for
scrap; the colonists scattering to a hundred colonies and asteroid settlements.
And then, after a few decades of fame, Mars was ignored. Bacteria or no
bacteria, there were far more abundant resources elsewhere in the solar system."

"And if two researchers hadn't decided to die here, it would still be
uninteresting today."
"Not uninteresting, no. Ignored, maybe. But not uninteresting."
"To you."
Leah smiled. "To me."
#
Langevin took the lander back upstairs, flying the utility platform in formation
with him, leaving us alone on the planet. We were in the tiny kitchen area of
the habitat, sitting around the only table large enough to serve as a conference
area. Leah spoke first. "Tally, did you learn anything?"
"After almost two years," Tally said, "did you really seriously believe any
footprints of the perpers would be left preserved? Well, surprise." She grinned.
"Yeah, I found some boot prints. Took me some looking, let me tell you, but I
found 'em."
"So tell," Leah said. "What did you get?"
"A few places in the lee of the rocks didn't get washed away by rain or blurred
by wind." Tally shook her head. "But I checked them all; every damn print
matches the size and patterns of one of the boots in the hab. Either whoever did
it used the same boots as our late friends, or, more likely, whoever did it
didn't leave any boot prints. That's all I've got. You?"
Leah spoke slowly. "The one in the hab died from being hit in the head. The
other one died outside. No rebreather in evidence, and he wasn't dressed for
outside. Just a thin robe. Carbon dioxide poisoning, as I expected."
"Hmm," said Tally. "Two guys sleeping in the same cubby. Ask me, I'd call it as
a lover's quarrel gone violent. The one guy bashes the other in a fit of rage,
probably didn't mean to hit quite so hard. Then, realizing what he did, he blows
up the habitat and walks outside to die."
"Could be," Leah said. "It's a hypothesis, anyway. Can't prove it one way or
another with the evidence we have so far. One odd thing, the man who died
outside had charred clothing."
That explained the ragged appearance of the clothing of the man who had been
outside. His clothes hadn't been eaten by bacteria; they had been charred.
"Maybe caught alight when he blew the habitat?" Tally suggested.
Leah shook her head. "Carbon dioxide and methane atmosphere. Nothing burns,
outside."
"Um," Tally said. "Guess I don't have an explanation for that one."
"Tinkerman?" Leah said. "You get anything?"
I shook my head. "I collected as much of their records as I could find, but so
far I can't read them. A lot of their opticals were damaged by fire, and on the
ones that weren't, the surfaces are pretty corroded by exposure. I've started
cleaning them off, and I may be able to get at some of their records, but, even
if I can do it, reading it will be pretty much a bit by bit process. They
weren't very conscientious at making backups and putting them in a secure