"Andre Norton - Ross Murdock 04 - Key Out Of Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

a vast improvement over the kind of passage points they had first -devised.
Technical information had taken a vast leap forward after human engineers
and scientists had had -access to the tapes of the interstellar empire.
Adaptations and shortcuts developed, so that a new hybrid technology came
into use, woven from the knowledge and experimentation of two civilizations
thousands of years apart in time. If and when he or Ashe--or Karara and her
dolphins--discovered the proper site, the two Agents could set up their own
experiment. Both Ross and Ashe had had enough drill in the process. All they
needed was the brick of discovery; then they could build their wall. But
they must find some remainder of the past, some slight trace of ancient ruin
upon which to center their peep-probe. And since landing here long days had
flowed into weeks with no such discovery being made. Ross crossed the ridge
of rock which formed a cocks-comb rise on the island's spine and descended
to the village. As they had been trained, the Polynesian settlers adapted
local products to their own heritage of building and tools. It was necessary
that they live off the land, for their transport ship had had storage space
only for a limited number of supplies and tools. After it took off to return
home they would be wholly on their own for several years. Their ship, a
silvery ball, rested on a rock ledge, its pilot and crew having lingered to
learn the results of Ashe's search. Four days more and they would have to
lift for home even if the Agents still had only negative results to report.
That disappointment was driving Ashe, the way that six months earlier his
outrage and guilt over the Topaz affair had driven him. Karara's suggestion
carried weight the longer Ross thought about it. With more swimmers hunting,
there was just that much increased chance of turning up some clue. So far
the dolphins had not -reported any dangerous native sea life or any perils
except the natural ones any diver always had at his shoulder under the
waves. There were extra gill-packs, and all of the settlers were good
swimmers. An organized hunt ought to shake the Polynesians out of their
present do-it-tomorrow attitude. As long as they had definite work before
them--the -unloading of the ship, the building of the village, all the
labors incidental to the establishing of this base--they had shown energy
and enthusiasm. It was only during the last couple of weeks that the languor
which appeared part of the atmosphere here had crept up on them, so that now
they were content to live at a slower and lazier pace. Ross remembered
Ashe's comparison made the evening before, likening Hawaika to a legendary
island on Earth where the inhabitants lived a drugged existence, feeding
upon the seeds of a native plant. Hawaika was fast becoming a lotus land for
humans.
"Through here, then westward . . ." Ashe hunched over the crate table in the
mat-walled house. He did not look up as Ross entered. Karara's still damp
head was bowed until those black locks, now sleeked to her round skull,
almost touched the man's close-cropped brown hair. They were both studying a
map as if they saw not lines on paper but the actual inlets and lagoons
which that drawing represented.
"You are sure, Gordon, that this is the modern point to match the site on
the tape?" The girl brushed back straying hair. Ashe shrugged. There were
tight lines about his mouth that had not been there six months ago. He moved
jerkily, not with the fluid grace of those old days when he had faced the
vast distance of time travel with unruffled calm and self-confidence to