"Murray Leinster - Space Platform" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

been vetoed anyhow!
But it was exactly that furious denunciation which put it through the United States Congress, which had to
find the money for it.
In Joe's eyes and those of most who hoped for it, the great appeal of the Platform was that it was the
necessary first step toward interplanetary travel, with starships yet to come. But most scientists wanted it
desperately for the progress of their own sciences. There were low temperature experiments, electronic
experiments, weather observations, star temperature measurements, astronomical observations ... Any man
in any field of science could name reasons for it to be built. Even the atomic scientists had one, and nearly
the best. Their argument was that there were new developments of nuclear theory which needed to be tried
out, but should not be tried out on Earth. There were some reactions which ought to yield unlimited power
for all the world from really abundant materials. But there was one chance in fifty that they might not be
safe, because the materials were so abundant. No sane man would risk a one-in-fifty chance of destroying
the Earth and humanity with it, but in a space-ship a few
million miles out in emptiness those reactions could be tried. Either they'd be safe, or not. But the only
way to get a laboratory so safely far from Earth was to make a Space Platform as a starting point.
But despite these excellent reasons, it was the Platform's enemies who really got it built. The American
Congress would never have appropriated funds for a Platform for pure scientific research, no matter what
benefits it promised. But the vehemence of those who hated it sold it to Congress as a means of national
defense.
These were ironic aspects that Joe hadn't thought about before, just as he hadn't thought of the danger to
the building Platform from those who would try to destroy it. Protecting it was now Sally's father's job,
and it wouldn't be an easy one.
He found himself wondering how Sally liked living out where the most important task on Earth was in
progress. She was a nice kid. He remembered appreciatively that she'd grown up to be a very goodlooking
girl. He tended to remember her mostly as the tomboy who could beat him swimming, but the last time
he'd seen her, come to think of it, he'd been startled to see how pretty she'd grown!
He came to himself again. There was a change in the look of the sky ahead. There was no actual horizon,
of course, there was a white haze which blended imperceptibly into the cloud layer, so it was impossible
to say where the sky ended and the clouds began. But presently there were holes in the clouds. The ship
droned on and later it floated over the edge of such a hole, and looking down was much like peering over
the edge of a cliff at solid ground far below.
The holes increased hi number. Presently they joined together, and there were no holes but clouds
breaking up a good view of the landscape. Presently even the clouds were left behind and the air was
clearтАФbut still there was no horizonтАФand there was brownish earth with small green patches, but on
beyond there was sere brown range. From eighteen thousand feet there were simply no details. Changes in
tint, yes. There were blurs which were certainly not herds of cattle but ought to be, and
here and there those pockmarks of greenishness which might be mesquite or something similar. The
ground was not actually desert, but the vegetation was strictly dry land stuff.
Eventually there was only haze far ahead and to the right and left. And then there came a new sound above
the droning hum of the motors. Joe heard itтАФand then he saw.
Something flashed down from nowhere. It streaked on ahead and banked steeply. It was again a jet fighter,
and for an instant Joe saw the distant range seem to ripple and dance in its exhaust blast. It circled
watchfully.
The transport pilot manipulated something. There was a change hi the sound of the motors. Joe followed
the copilot's eyes. The jet was coming up from astern, dive brakes extended to reduce its speed. It
overhauled the transport. And then the transport's pilot touched one of the separate prop controls very
gently, and again, and again. Joe, looking at the jet, saw it through the whirling blades. There was an
extraordinary stroboscopic effect. One of the two starboard propellers, seen through the other, abruptly
took on a look which was not that of mistiness, but of writhing, gyrating solidity. The peculiar appearance
vanished, and came again, and vanished and appeared again before it disappeared completely.