"Kim Stanley Robinson - Mars 3 - Green Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

So they sat in the pilotsтАЩ seats and watched the dawn.

тАЬHow old are you, boy?тАЭ

тАЬSeven.тАЭ

тАЬWhatтАЩs that, thirteen Earth years? Fourteen?тАЭ

тАЬI guess.тАЭ

тАЬWow. YouтАЩre already taller than me.тАЭ

тАЬUh huh.тАЭ Nirgal refrained from pointing out that this did not imply any great height. тАЬHow old are you?тАЭ

тАЬOne hundred and nine. Ah ha ha! You best shut your eyes or theyтАЩll pop out of your head. DonтАЩt you
look at me like that. I was old the day I was born and IтАЩll be young the day I die.тАЭ

They drowsed as the sky on the eastern skyline turned a deep purply blue. Coyote hummed a little tune
to himself, sounding as if he had eaten a tab of omegendorph, as he often did in the evenings at Zygote.
Gradually it became clear that the skysill was very far away, and also very high; Nirgal had never seen
land so far away, and it seemed to curve around them as well, a black curving wall that lay an immense
distance off, over a black rocky plain. тАЬHey, Coyote!тАЭ he exclaimed. тАЬWhat is this?тАЭ

тАЬHa!тАЭ Coyote said, sounding deeply satisfied.

The sky lightened and the sun suddenly cracked the upper edge of the distant wall, blasting NirgalтАЩs
vision for a while. But as the sun rose the shadows on the huge semicircular cliff gave way in wedges of
light that revealed sharp ragged embayments, scalloping the larger curve of the wall, which was so big
that Nirgal simply gasped, his nose pressed right against the windshieldтАФit was almost frightening, it was
so big! тАЬCoyote, what is it?тАЭ

Coyote let out one of his alarming laughs, the animal cackle filling the car. тАЬSo you see it isnтАЩt such a
small world after all, eh, boy? This is the floor of Promethei Basin. ItтАЩs an impact basin, one of the biggest
on Mars, almost as big as Argyre, but it hit down here near the South Pole, so about half of its rim has
since been buried under the polar cap and the layered terrain. The other half is this curved escarpment
here.тАЭ He waved a hand expansively. тАЬKind of like a super-big caldera, but only half there, so you can
drive right into it. This little rise is the best place I know for seeing it.тАЭ He called up a map of the region,
and pointed. тАЬWeтАЩre on the apron of this little crater here, Vt, and looking northwest. The cliff is
Promethei Rupes, there. ItтАЩs about a kilometer high. Of course the Echus cliff is three kilometers high,
and the Olympus Mons cliff is six kilometers high, do you hear that Mister Small Planet? But this baby
will have to do for this morning.тАЭ
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The sun rose higher, illuminating the great curve of the cliff from above. It was deeply cut by ravines and
smaller craters. тАЬPrometheus Sanctuary is in the side of that big indentation there,тАЭ. Coyote said, and
pointed to the left side of the curve. тАЬCrater Wj.тАЭ