"Life Probe" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

The first signs were barely noticeable, even to the economists who kept careful
watch over such things. Eventually curves could be projected far enough into the
future to foretell a time when civilization must inevitably collapse of resource
starvation. To avert catastrophe the Makers would have to obtain an infusion of
new resources, either by importing raw materials from nearby stars or else
transplanting their civilization to virgin territory.
Unfortunately, both options required a working faster-than-light drive.
The frustrated scientists redoubled their efforts. It was not until another
hundred millennia had passed that a Maker philosopher began to wonder if they
were asking the right questions. The Great Thinker had dedicated his life to the
study of the years immediately following the slowboatsТ return from the stars.
He noted that Maker science had taken great intuitive leaps in those years. The
old records told of many cases where the combined knowledge of two races had led
to discoveries unsuspected by either.
His questions were as fundamental as they were simple: УCould it be that our
concepts of how FTL may be achieved are wrong? Is the failure to break the light
barrier simply a matter of having missed the obvious? If so, might not some
other civilization have avoided our error and found the true path to FTL?Ф
Once the questions were asked, they could not be ignored. A program was
immediately begun to provide an answer. At first, it was a minor adjunct to the
FTL research project. But as answers kept coming up negative, as each promising
avenue of approach turned out to be a dead end, the program to PROBE the
knowledge of alien civilizations grew.
By the time humanity discovered agriculture, it was all the program there was.

PART I: MUTUAL DISCOVERY

CHAPTER 1

УIt is unfortunate that events leading up to the truly important milestones in
the History of Man are often so veiled by the passage of time as to be forever
lost. Happily, this is not the case with thePathfinderMission. In retrospect, we
are able to pinpoint the initiating event with considerable exactitude.
Therefore, let it be recorded that 15 January 2065 was possibly the most
important day the human race has ever known. Of course, it was quite some time
before any human being became aware of that fact.Ф

--Excerpt fromУPrelude to Pathfinder: An Official History,Ф Pathfinder Memorial
Edition, Aurelius Publications, New York and Luna, September 2096. By permission
of the Publishers.
#
PROBE woke Е in quick stages Е of jumbled impressions Е and stray memories.
The attack of integration vertigo lasted a dozen nanoseconds while its brain
assembled itself into a functioning whole. Finally, the fuzziness was gone and
it was once more awake and aware.
The next step in the preprogrammed Уwake upФ sequence was a complete sensor scan
of the heavens. As expected, PROBE found itself in interstellar space.The stars
were cold, hard points of radiance etched against the fathomless black of the
cosmos. All save one.
PROBE checked its elapsed time chronometer and found that it had been ten