"C. Sanford Lowe & G. David Nordley - Loki's Realm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowe C Sanford)

coveredтАФthat is the black disk. I can amplify it if you like, but it is smooth and
featureless at this magnification.
тАЬNever mind. All those streams?тАЭ
Those are comets. There are 973 of them in your field of view.
тАЬTheyтАЩre all heading right into the star?тАЭ
That is mostly perspective, the AI answered. Only 311 have perihelia within
the photosphere. All but fifteen of those are actually ammonia-saturated slag balls
from our mining and solar power station construction operations.
The AdmiralтАЩs comments not withstanding, I was in awe of this picture, of all
this cosmic debris falling toward the star, and feeling not a little uneasy. How did the
artificial intelligences building the array cope with this? What plans should we make?
Was the project itself in jeopardy? I got myself up to speed as much as I could.
Then it was time to go to the Sphere Three Park. Getting there was no
problem: the hollow main ring led through the center of each sphere. A woman by
the name of Jill Davenport, head of biology, soon followed me on the pole and
assured me this was the way.
As I came up the pole I was greeted by a shapely lass wearing a glossy purple
shipsuit that looked as if it had been painted on her body. It had a white
shoulder-to-hip band, broken by a triangle of well-tanned skin nearly down to her
navel.
тАЬHello, Dr. Macready.тАЭ
тАЬDr. Davra, I presume?тАЭ
She smiled and motioned to a spot on the grass. тАЬWeтАЩre about ready to start.тАЭ
I nodded, sat down on the grass like everyone else and looked up at displays
of comets and collisions spread all over the dome.
тАЬDamn it, Emma,тАЭ Weaver said at length, тАЬhowтАЩd this happen?тАЭ
Emma Lewis, our astrophysicist, stood up so she could see everyone. She
reminded me of my kindergarten teacher so many years ago, save for a London
accent. She was dressed, much as I was, in plain walking shorts and a loose pullover
tunic that gave little hint of any figure.
тАЬBad luck, isnтАЩt it? The big collision followed a bolometric luminosity spike of
almost twelve percentтАФa huge flare by solar standardsтАФthat occurred the year we
left. This flare increased cometary activity, causing more random nongravitational
accelerations. That caused changes in previously settled orbits, increasing collision
rates which increase debris, which increase the number of collisions, and so on. ItтАЩs
a feedback processтАФexponential as long as a reservoir of material exists; and the
giant planet LokiтАЩs eccentric orbit continually stirs things up. But a collision that big
might not have happened for tens of thousands of years. Instead, it happened now.тАЭ
тАЬSo, what do you think we should do about it?тАЭ Weaver asked.
тАЬStudy it for now,тАЭ Lewis answered, somewhat hesitantly. тАЬSomething is
going on we donтАЩt quite understand. WeтАЩll come up with a better solution when we
do.тАЭ
тАЬMeanwhile, weтАЩre losing ground,тАЭ Davra complained. тАЬSimulations show the
response of the AI systems is to divert power array production to beam drivers, up
to the point where thatтАЩs all thatтАЩs being made. Without replacement array panels and
any new arrays, weтАЩll be falling behind. WeтАЩll need to do some creative thinking.тАЭ
She was answered by a tall, angular, light-skinned man with a shock of dark
boyish hair falling on his forehead. After a momentтАЩs cobweb-cleaning in the
cold-sleep-dusty cells of my memory, I recognized Dr. Daggert Dickson, an
engineer, expert in propulsion systems.