"Larry Niven - The Integral Trees" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

"Grad . . . Jeffer. What have I told you about the tree? We've studied the universe together, but the most important thing in it is the tree. Didn't I teach you that everything that lives has a way of staying near the Smoke Ring median, where there's air and water and soil?"
"Everything but trees and men."
"Integral trees have a way. I taught you."
"I . . . had the idea you were only guessing . . . Oh, I see. You're willing to bet my life."
The Scientist's eyes dropped. "I suppose I am. But if I'm right, there won't be anything left but you and the people who go with you. Jeffer, this could be nothing. You could all come back with . . . whatever we need: breeding turkeys, some kind of meat animal living on the trunk, I don't know-"
"But you don't think so."
"No. That's why I'm giving you these."
He pulled treasures from the spine-branch walls: a glassy rectangle a quarter meter by half a meter, flat enough to fit into a pack four boxes each the size of a child's hand. The Grad's response was a musical "O-ooh."
"You'll decide for yourself whether to tell any of the others what you're carrying. Now let's do one last drill session." The Scientist plugged a cassette into the reader screen. "You won't have much chance to study on the trunk."
PLANTS

LIFE PERVADES THE SMOKE RING BUT IS NEITHER

DENSE NOR MASSIVE. IN THE FREE-FALL ENVIRONMENT

PLANTS CAN SPREAD THEIR GREENERY WIDELY TO CATCH

MAXIMUM SUNLIGHT AND PASSING WATER AND SOIL,

WITHOUT BOTHERING ABOUT STRUCTURAL STRENGTH. WE

FIND AT LEAST ONE EXCEPTION...

THESE INTEGRAL TREES GROW TO TREMENDOUS SIZE.

THE PLANT FORMS A LONG TRUNK UNDER TERRIFIC TENSION, TUFTED WITH GREEN AT BOTH ENDS, STABILIZED BY

THE TIDE. THEY FORM THOUSANDS OF RADIAL SPOKES CIRCLING LEVOY'S STAR. THEY GROW UP TO A HUNDRED KILOMETERS IN LENGTH, WITH UP TO A FIFTH OF A GEE IN

TIDAL "GRAVITY" AT THE TUF1'S AND PERPETUAL HURRICANE WINDS.

THE WINDS DERIVE FROM SIMPLE ORBITAL MECHANICS.

THEY BLOW FROM THE WEST AT THE INNER TUFT AND

FROM THE EAST AT THE OUTER TUFT (WHERE IN IS TOw~ LEVOY'S STAR, AS USUAL). THE STRUCTURE BOWS

TO THE WINDS, CURVING INTO A NEARLY HORIZONTAL

BRANCH AT EACH END. THE FOLIAGE SIFTS FERTILIZER

FROM THE WIND.

THE MEDICAL DANGERS OF LIFE IN FREE-FALL ARE

WELL KNOWN. IF DISCIPLINE HAS INDEED ABANDONED US,

IF WE ARE INDEED MAROONED WITHIN THIS WEIRD ENVIRONMENT, WE COULD DO WORSE THAN TO SFITLE THE

TUFTS OF THE INTEGRAL TREES. IF THE TREES PROVE