"Mike Resnick - Birthright" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

тАЬI suppose we could just orbit the damned thing for a few weeks, and then return and tell them we
couldn't hack it,тАЭ said Nelson.

тАЬAnd forfeit two million bucks?тАЭ demanded Bowman.

тАЬI'd say the cards are stacked against us, Milt,тАЭ said Nelson. тАЬItem: The gravity is too heavy for us to
land. Item: The air is both unbreathable and radioactive. Item: Even if a Pioneer-type ship could land, it
would melt before it could take off again. Item: No permanent base could be set up, even if we solved all
those problems, because the planet's temperature is going to double in another ten years. Item: If none of
the preceding items were enough to dissuade us, we still don't know when an explosion will come along
and blow us straight to hell and back. ItemтАФтАЭ

тАЬWell, they never said it was going to be easy,тАЭ said Bowman with a smile.

Three days later the smile was long gone and forgotten. The ship's sensing devices had logged 129 more
explosions, and the computer had verified that all were totally spontaneous and patternless.

тАЬAnd if that isn't enough,тАЭ said Bowman, checking the readout, тАЬit looks as if the planet is getting smaller
by the minute. Not enough so you'd notice it, but enough so it will finally blow itself to pieces in another
four or five thousand years.тАЭ

тАЬWell, what next?тАЭ asked Nelson.

тАЬI'm running out of ideas,тАЭ said Bowman. тАЬI was up all night with the computer. According to our
mechanical comrade, all we have to do is get a superstrong mining ship and develop immunities to heat,
radiation, and things that go bang in the night.тАЭ

A week later things weren't appreciably better. The two Pioneers had shot a dozen probes into the
planet; one had been demolished in an explosion within minutes, and the others were deactivated by heat
and radiation shortly thereafter. They had sent a mechanical drone out to take a sample of the upper layer
of the atmosphere, and the gravity had pulled it to the planet's surface, destroying it before it could feed
its findings into the computer. They had tightened their orbit, and had barely escaped with their lives.
They had shot two nuclear devices into the planet's stratosphere and exploded them, with no noticeable
effect in either creating or alleviating the natural explosions. And they had played 3,407 hands of
blackjack, also without producing any solution to their problem.

тАЬYou know,тАЭ said Bowman, тАЬa person could go absolutely nuts trying to crack this planet. How the hell
do you take a world that's having nuclear fits and turn it into a nice place to visit? Well, back to the
drawing board,тАЭ he finished, turning to the computer.

The drawing board was no help. There were simply no analogous situations stored within its memory
banks.

тАЬWe could tie in with the Master Computer on Deluros VIII,тАЭ suggested Nelson. тАЬIt might know
something that our baby is overlooking.тАЭ

тАЬSure,тАЭ said Bowman sarcastically. тАЬAnd pay out a million-dollar fee for the privilege. Hell, I'd sooner
forfeit the contract. I hooked in once when I was a novice and spent my next five contracts paying it off.тАЭ