"James Van Pelt - Lashawnda at the End" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pelt James Van)

Lashawnda said, тАЬThat means the plants cooperate. They share the wealth. ItтАЩs counter-Darwinian. I
compared the fly-by photos of this area from the first day until now. Since weтАЩve landed, plant growth
has thickened and extended, which makes sense. When we lost the external tanks we introduced more
free water into the system than itтАЩs seen in years, but the forests in the neighboring gulches also are
thicker. We thought they were separate ecosystems. They arenтАЩt. Water we lost here is ending up as
much as five kilometers away. The plants move moisture to where itтАЩs needed.тАЭ

тАЬWill knowing that help us now?тАЭ asked First Chair. тАЬI donтАЩt care if the plants are setting up volleyball
leagues; weтАЩve got to figure a way to find enough water to last us five months.тАЭ He glared at the
environmental engineer on his way out. She turned to me.

тАЬI know,тАЭ I said. тАЬStandard operating procedure.тАЭ

тАЬLetтАЩs go outside,тАЭ said Lashawnda. тАЬWeтАЩve got the afternoon left.тАЭ
***


тАЬCould we harvest the trees and press water out of them?тАЭ I asked.
Lashawnda attached another sensor to a tree stem, moved a few feet along, then fastened the next one.
She straightened slowly, her eyes closed against the discomfort. I wondered how she really felt. She
never talked about it.

тАЬYou did the reports. How many plants would we have to squeeze dry to get a single cup?тАЭ

I didnтАЩt answer. She was right. Although the plants tied up most of the planetтАЩs water, it was spread
thinly. I dug into a bare patch of dirt between two stands of trees. Only a dozen centimeters below the
surface, a matted network of plant tendrils resisted my efforts to go deeper. I picked one about a finger
in width and fastened a sensor to it.

We were deep into the tree-filled gulch. With no sun on us, I had to keep moving to stay warm, and my
faceplate defogger wasnтАЩt working well.

I looked into a bundle of tree stalks. An old gopher-rat lump hung between the branches. Now that I
knew where to look, I found them often. тАЬHave you gone this deep into the gulch before?тАЭ

Lashawnda consulted her wrist display. тАЬNo, but by the map we are nearly at the end. WeтАЩll save time if
we go back along the ridge.тАЭ

Fifteen minutes later Lashawnda pushed through a particularly heavy patch of trees, and she disappeared.

тАЬOh!тАЭ

тАЬWhat?тАЭ

Pulling my way through the vegetation, I found what stopped her. The gully pinched to a close twenty
meters farther, and there were no more trees, but the same kind of sticky leaves that captured the
gopher-rats covered the ground in a bed of orange and yellow, like broad-surfaced clover. The setting
sun poured a crimson light over the scene, and for the first time since IтАЩd landed on Papaver, I thought
something was beautiful. As I watched, the leaves turned their faces toward us and seemed to lean the