"The Sails Of Tau Ceti" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

She had often tried to describe what it was like to wear an implant to people
who lacked the experience. It was like trying to explain sex to a six-year-old.
Besides an eidetic memory, implants gave their users an extra set of eyes with
which to see. When Tory gazed at theStarhopper booster, she saw more than its
physical form. In her mind, she could visualize the vehicleТs complex plumbing
as it snaked through the first stage booster. She could visualize the
temperature variations that would play across the vehicle during launch. To
herStarhopper was less a machine than a living creature straining to enter its
natural environment, the cold black of interstellar space.
Tory was none the wiser when she finished her review of the meeting minutes.
Satisfied that there was nothing she herself had done (or failed to do) to
trigger a crisis, she willed her implant into silence, leaned back, and resolved
to enjoy the flight.
The shuttle lifted away from Phobosport with a burst of attitude control jets.
Once clear of PhobosТs inner traffic zone, the pilot turned the ship until its
nose pointed back along the orbit it shared with the moon. Seconds later, the
engines came alight and Tory felt a gentle hand pressing against her. When the
initial burst of retrofire was finished, the pilot turned the ship to give his
passengers a panoramic view of Mars.
Despite being only half EarthТs diameter, the red planet was huge. Phobos had
once been a free flying asteroid. Following its capture by Mars -- an event the
astronomers still argued about -- the small moon had stabilized in an orbit 6000
kilometers above the rust colored sands.
It had been nearly two centuries since the first humans had set foot on Mars and
died there, a century-and-a-half since the establishment of the first Martian
colony. Humankind still had a considerable way to go before the planet would
begin to grow crowded. For despite its diminutive size, MarsТs lack of an ocean
gave it a land area nearly as great as EarthТs. The red planet supported 250
million souls, compared to the 10 billion who inhabited Earth.
Twenty minutes after leaving Phobos, Tory noticed a circular shadow detach
itself from the sunrise terminator and strike out across the Tharsis highlands.
She frowned. Phobos was close enough to cast a shadow on Mars, but in the wrong
position. Deimos, on the other hand, was too small and distant to have any hope
of shading the Martian landscape.
Having eliminated the only two possibilities, Tory felt the thrill that comes
from a suddenly recognized mystery. She watched the shadow for several seconds
before a spark of reflected sunlight caught her attention. Understanding burst
upon her like the static discharges that illuminate the Martian sky during
summer dust storms. The reflection had come from sunlight bouncing off a light
sail in a lower orbit than the ferry. It had been the sailТs shadow that she had
been watching cross the Martian desert.
Light sails used the pressure of reflected sunlight to propel their
nonperishable cargoes across the Solar System. They were slow, but less
expensive than even a ship in a Hohmann transfer orbit. This sail was probably
towing a load of ice from SaturnТs rings and using MarsТs gravity to shape its
approach to the inner moon. The Phobos distillery was the main reason they were
buildingStarhopper there. The hydrogen cracking facility was to be the source of
the interstellar probeТs reaction mass.
As the shuttle dropped, the light sail grew larger beyond the viewport. The
sail, Tory knew, was a large circular sheet of metalized plastic only a few