"Paul J. McAuley - How we Lost the Moon - A True Story by Frank W. Allen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

IтАЩd just been playing for a few hours, and I was in a good mood, which
was why I didnтАЩt strangle Mike when, after I asked him to tell me what he
knew, he flashed his goofy smile at me and went back to scratching figures
on his slate. Instead, I snatched the slate from his hands and held it over
the edge of the arbor and said, тАЬYou tell me right now, or the slate gets it.тАЭ
 Mike scratched the swirl of black hair on his bare chest and said, тАЬYou
know you wonтАЩt do it.тАЭ

I made to skim it through the air and said, тАЬHow many times do you
think it would bounce before it sank?тАЭ

тАЬI thought IтАЩd give you a chance to work it out. And it isnтАЩt as if thereтАЩs
anything we can do. DidnтАЩt you enjoy the rest?тАЭ

тАЬWhatтАЩs this got to do with not taking up that contract?тАЭ

тАЬThereтАЩs no point building anything anymore. You still havenтАЩt
guessed, have you?тАЭ

I tossed the slate to him. тАЬMaybe I should pick you up and throw you
in the lake.тАЭ

I meant it, and IтАЩm a lot bigger than him.

тАЬItтАЩs a black hole,тАЭ he said.

тАЬA black hole.тАЭ

тАЬSure. My guess is that the experiment caused a runaway quantum
fluctuation that created a black hole. It had to be bigger than the Planck
size, and most probably was a bit bigger than a hydrogen atom, because it
obviously has been taking up other atoms easily enough. Say around ten to
the power twenty-three kilograms. The mass of a big mountain, like
Everest. The magnetic containment fields couldnтАЩt hold it, of course, and it
dropped straight out of the reaction cham-ber and went through the plantтАЩs
floor.тАЭ

I said, тАЬThe hole we saw was a lot bigger than the width of a hydrogen
atom.тАЭ

тАЬSure. The black hole disrupted stuff by tidal force over a far greater
distance than its Swartzschild radius, and sucked some of it right in. ThatтАЩs
why there was no trace of melting, even though it was pretty hot, and
spitting out X-rays and probably accelerated protons, too тАФcosmic rays.тАЭ

I didnтАЩt believe him, of course, but it was an interesting intellectual
exercise. I said, тАЬSo where did the mass come from? Not from the
combustion chamber fuel.тАЭ
 тАЬOf course not. It was a quantum fluctuation, just like the Universe,
which also came out of nothing. And the Universe weighs a lot more than