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

There had been schemes to mine the mineral wealth of the asteroids as far back
as the mid-twentieth century, and actual attempts early in the twenty- first.
All had failed. The time and distance involved in travel to and from the
Asteroid Belt had made the mines too expensive to operate.
In the year 2060, a graduate student by the name of Halver Smith chose asteroid
mining for his doctoral thesis in Business Economics. Smith concluded that there
was nothing inherently uneconomical about such operations. Indeed, a cubic
kilometer of asteroidal metal delivered to Earth was worth more than the
combined gross domestic products of the three largest nations. The problem
remained the delay inherent in shipping supplies to the Asteroid Belt and
returning product to Earth.
Smith suggested a solution to the problem. Instead of traveling to the Asteroid
Belt, he reasoned, why not move an asteroid into orbit about the Earth. This he
dubbed the УMountain to Mohammed Method.Ф Such a plan would require the
discovery of the proper asteroid in the proper orbit. To buttress his
arguments, Smith searched the Astronomical UnionТs data banks for likely
candidates. It was during this search that he came across the report of the
close approach of 2037.
Halver Smith was rewarded a Ph.D. in Business Economics. His proposal had not,
however, been thought very practical. After graduation, he used a small
inheritance to invest in a new process for extracting rare earths from low-grade
ore. It had proven a once-in-a-lifetime investment. Halver Smith had quickly
earned a fortune. As his wealth grew, he began to seriously consider putting
his thesis into practice.
Tom Thorpe was a newly minted graduate of the Colorado School of Mines when he
answered Halver SmithТs advertisement for vacuum qualified mining engineers. The
job, he soon learned, was the exploration of an Earth-approaching asteroid. He
and a dozen other young vacuum monkeys had clustered around the viewports of the
Prospecting ShipSierra Madre as it made its final approach. At first sight of
their destination, Perry Allen, the most vocal of the group, exclaimed: УItТs
nothing but a goddamned rock!Ф The name might as well have been applied with
quick drying adhesive.
They spent the next month swarming all over the asteroid. They drilled deeply
into its surface and assayed the purity of their samples. They probed even
deeper with powerful sonic beams. Their analyses confirmed that The Rock was a
treasure trove, a nearly pure chunk of nickel-iron seamed with copper, silver,
and gold. Ten months later, Thorpe had found himself back on The Rock, this
time in the company of a full crew of mining specialists and a shipload of heavy
equipment.
УBetter be careful with that jumping!Ф a womanТs voice said in his earphones.
УIТd hate to see you break anything.Ф
Thorpe gazed down at the figure standing on the plain some thirty meters below
him. The figure in the red-orange vacuum suit was anonymous. Only in his mindТs
eye could he see the short, slightly plump figure of Nina Pavolev. Two years
his junior, Nina was his executive assistant, and his sometimes lover.
УIТve been doing this for ten years now,Ф he said over the general
communications band, Уand havenТt broken my neck yet!Ф
УThatТs what they all say just before they do!Ф
Thorpe settled slowly back toward the surface, grounding a full three minutes
after the gentle push had sent him skyward. He took the impact with flexed