"Sean McMullen - Voice of Steel" - читать интересную книгу автора (McMullen Sean)

"The moon in 1902, Mars in 1957, and now the Jovian system," I explained.

"Yes, yes, quite so Michelle. You are not one who likes to wait for the future, are youтАФjust a minute.
They can see ice тАж and more ice тАж everywhere there is ice тАж liquid water beneath the engines тАж
turning back to ice тАж glorious moment for France тАж they're opening the champagneтАФthat's it! I can't
take any more."

He removed the earplug and came around the table to look down at the journal. There were still thirty
pages of text, all of it quite basic science, plus a lot of the principles behind various inventions.
"Nothing more than Baker's three laws of motion and some practical advice for building a steam engine,"
he said, sounding as disappointed as I was.

"There is still the reference near the start, the bit about an enchanted sword speaking the wisdom to them.
Also some words of endearment to the brave and clever lady speaking with the sword's voice."

"Hah! Nothing more than twaddle. Edward and William Tynedale were two of the greatest theoretical
physicists and inventors of all time, and they were Brittanic! This has to be a hoax by the French."

"But why? The paper is genuine, and so is the ink. It was found in your library, after all."

"It may be an old hoax to denigrate Brittanic science. We led the world for five hundred years, then the
French came along and used our industrial achievements to reach into space. They want to pretend that
the Brittanic people were never great."

"As conspiracy theories go, this lacksтАФ"

"The technology to fake a journal like this has been around since the 1850s. You know, use early
fifteenth-century blank paper and contemporary ink, then use a molecular penetrating agent to accelerate
absorption. Leave it for a century or so to simulate real aging, then have someone slip it into my
libraryтАФwhat is so funny?"

I managed to stop myself laughing with some effort.

"As conspiracy theories go, that takes a lot of beating. A French plot to disparage the finest of Brittanic
science of six hundred years ago, except that it was four hundred and fifty years ago when it started."

"Brittania did not exist six hundred years ago."

"You know what I mean. If this journal was to become public, why the Tynedale Dissertations on Nature
would be proved to be a hoax."

"A hoax?" I laughed. "Darling, the earliest published copy of the Dissertations in the Brittanic Library of
Congress is dated 1412."

"You know what I mean. They owned this sword," he said. "That sword in the next room still receives
radio transmissions, it is a sort of accidental crystal set. It could have received back in 1404. It has been
known to be a receiver for over a century."

"Who could have had a radio transmitter back in 1404? Lavoisier did not make the first transatlantic