"Thunderstrike" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

УWhen will The Big Eye be able to recheck this sighting?Ф Amber asked.
УEight months, barring cancellations or unscheduled maintenance,Ф the computer
responded.
Amber sighed. УSwing the 60 centimeter into position and get me a second view.Ф
УI am unable to execute your command. That section of sky is no longer visible.
It set behind the western rim three days ago.Ф
УHow long before it rises again?Ф
УTwo weeks.Ф
УVery well,Ф Amber replied. УSchedule a 60 centimeter observation as soon as
possible following its reappearance. If you do not find the object at its
previous position, run a standard survey for three fields-of-view around that
point. Notify me when you have completed your task. Repeat.Ф
The computer repeated AmberТs orders, then returned the screen to its picture of
the Big Eye. Amber returned to her other work and forgot about whatever it was
that the computer had discovered.
#
Thomas Bronson Thorpe bounded into the black sky in a jump no Olympic athlete
had ever dreamed of. The sound of his own breathing was loud in his ears as he
rose a dozen meters above the pockmarked plain. The sun was below the horizon,
but the crescent Earth, with a slightly fuller Luna beyond it, was high in the
sky. The blue-white radiance of Earthshine cast a twilight glow over The RockТs
barren landscape. As he reached the top of his arc, Thorpe let his practiced
gaze sweep across the small world. Everywhere around him lay the clutter of
heavy industry. To most, it would have seemed a horizon-to-horizon junkyard.
To Tom Thorpe, every empty gas cylinder and bit of used cable was a testament to
humanityТs triumph over an uncaring universe.
Contrary to its name, The Rock contained very little stony matter. In fact, it
was nearly pure nickel-iron. For billions of years, the asteroid had followed
its elliptical path around the Sun, occasionally passing close to the beautiful
blue-white world that was Earth. Because of the asteroidТs small diameter (4
kilometers) and the ten-degree inclination of its orbit, The Rock had evaded
notice for much of history. Its anonymity had ended in 2037. In that year, it
had approached to within two million kilometers of Luna, The RockТs closest
passage in more than a century.
The asteroid might have escaped notice even then had its discovery been left to
the optical astronomers. They had their instruments focused far beyond cislunar
space, indeed, outside the Solar System altogether. Their interest lay in
exploding galaxies and distant quasars. They left the mundane business of
adding yet another minor planet to the list of known Earth-approaching asteroids
to others.
Luckily, the volume of space between Earth and Moon had long been saturated with
traffic control radars. As The Rock made its approach, one such radar suffered a
breakdown in its ranging circuits. Rather than report only those signals it had
been designed to see, the radar began registering everything in sight. When it
announced a swiftly moving object two million kilometers beyond Luna, the
traffic control center at Luna City quickly took notice. The center tracked the
rogue asteroid for more than an hour before it drifted below their local
horizon. The traffic controllers computed the path of the mystery object. They
reported the information to the System Astronomical Union, where it languished
for two decades.