"Scott Mackay - The Sages Of Cassiopeia2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mackay Scott)

SCOTT MACKAY

THE SAGES OF CASSIOPEIA

ON A CLEAR COLD NOVEMBER night in 1572, near the town of Knudstrup in Denmark,
Tycho Brahe, one of the last great naked-eye astronomers, stood on the west
tower of his uncle's abbey, Herritzvad, gazing up at the sky. He took his eye
away from his sextant and glanced at his brother Magnus. Magnus swept the
stone
floor, his mongoloid eyes staring at the dying embers in the grate, his breath
frosting over in the frigid air.

"Magnus," called Tycho. "I've discovered a new star. Come see for yourself. It
outshines Venus."

Magnus didn't look up. His idiot brother continued to sweep the same spot of
stone floor, his red hair shaggy over his flattened skull, his eyes
good-natured
but dull. If only he would do something useful, like build the fire, fetch
some
warm spiced wine, or empty the chamber pot. I have studied at Copenhagen,
Leipzig Rostock, and Augsburg have given lectures by royal command to King
Frederick and his court. And I ask myself, can this unfortunate dunce be my
sibling?

Tycho turned back to his sextant and looked up at the newly luminous object
shining brightly among the murkier stars of Cassiopeia. How far is this new
star
away from the earth? Is it part of the great cogwheel of planets that rolls
around the earth, or is it perched somewhere between the moon and the sun?
Tycho
lifted his quill and made a notation. Position unchanged. How to explain this
phenomenon? Was it something that might confirm his own careful notion of the
universe, that the sun revolved around the earth, that the planets revolved
around the sun, that together the sun and the planets rolled like a big wheel
through the sky with earth as its hub?

Behind him, Magnus stopped sweeping. Tycho put his quill down and turned
around.

Magnus leaned the broom against the wall and lumbered over to the fire. He
lifted the iron poker and stirred the embers, showing unexpected initiative,
took a few small pieces of firewood and piled them in an intricate cat's
cradle.
Tycho dropped his quill and took a few steps forward, forgetting about the new
star. Was this his brother, the same unfortunate soul he had to feed and
clothe
every morning the same dullard who had never spoken an intelligible word in
his
life, and who didn't have the manual dexterity to fit his own cod-piece? Was