"Dan Simmons - Orphans of the Helix" - читать интересную книгу автора (Simmons Dan)

preservation of endangered life-forms -- and all 684,300 of the Amoiete refugees could be
considered endangered life-forms this far from human space -- it was assumed that in unusual
awakenings the greens would be voted into overall command.
In addition to the other green -- a young, redheaded woman named Res Sandre -- there was: a red-
band male, Patek Georg Dem Mio; a young, white-band female named Den Soa whom Dem Lia knew from
the diplomacy simulations; an ebony-band male named Jon Mikail Dem Alem; an older yellow-band
woman named Oam Rai whom Dem Lia remembered as having excelled at ship system's operations; a
white-haired blue-band male named Peter Delen Dem Tae whose primary training would be in
psychology; an attractive female violet-band -- almost surely chosen for astronomy -- named Kem
Loi; and an orange male -- their medic, whom Dem Lia had spoken to on several occasions -- Samel
Ria Kem AH, known to everyone as Dr. Sam.
After introductions there was a silence. The group looked out the windows at the binary system,
the G8 white star almost lost in the glare of the Helix's, formidable fusion tail.
Finally the red, Patek Georg, said, "All right, ship. Explain."
Saigy├┤'s calm voice came over the omnipresent speakers. "We were nearing time to begin a search
for earthlike worlds when sensors and astronomy became interested in this system."
"A binary system?" said Kem Loi, the violet. "Certainly not in the red giant system?" The
Amoiete Spectrum Helix people had been very specific about the world they wanted their ship to
find for them -- G2 sun, earthlike world at least a 9 on the old Solmev Scale, blue oceans,
pleasant temperatures -- paradise, in other words. They had tens of thousands of light-years and
thousands of years to hunt. They fully expected to find it.
"There are no worlds left in the red-giant system," agreed Saigy├┤ the AI affably enough. "We
estimate that the system was a G2 yellow-white dwarf star ... "
"Sol," muttered Peter Delen, the blue, sitting at Dem Lia's right.
"Yes," said Saigy├┤. "Much like the Old Earth's sun. We estimate that it became unstable on the
main sequence hydrogen-burning stage about three and one half million standard years ago and then
expanded to its red giant phase and swallowed any planets that had been in system."
"How many AU's out does the giant extend?" asked Res Sandre, the other green.
"Approximately one-point-three," said the AI.


file:///F|/rah/Dan%20Simmons/Simmons,%20Dan%20-%2005%20-%20Orphan%20of%20the%20Helix.txt (2 of 26) [1/15/03 6:09:36 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/Dan%20Simmons/Simmons,%20Dan%20-%2005%20-%20Orphan%20of%20the%20Helix.txt

"And no outer planets?" asked Kem Loi. Violets in the Helix were dedicated to complex
structures, chess, the love of the more complex aspects of human relationships, and astronomy. "It
would seem that there would be some gas giants or rocky worlds left if it only expanded a bit
beyond what would have been Old Earth's or Hyperion's orbit."
"Maybe the outer worlds were very small planetoids driven away by the constant outgassing of
heavy particles," said Patek Georg, the red-band pragmatist.
"Perhaps no worlds formed here," said Den Soa, the white-band diplomat. Her voice was sad. "At
least in that case no life was destroyed when the sun went red giant."
"Saigy├┤," said Dem Lia, "why are we decelerating in toward this white star? May we see the
specs on it, please?"
Images, trajectories, and data columns appeared over the table.
"What is that?" said the older yellow-band woman, Oam Rai.
"An Ouster forest ring," said Jon Mikail Dem Alem. "All this way. All these years. And some
ancient Ouster Hegira seedship beat us to it."
"Beat us to what?" asked Res Sandre, the other green. "There are no planets in this system are
there, Saigy├┤?"