"Smith, E E 'Doc' - Spacehounds Of Ipc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

"Early? You? Just like you always were Ч minus fifteen seconds on zero. The
final dope is due right now." He plugged the automatic recorder and speaker into a
circuit marked "Observatory", waited until a tiny light above the plug flashed green, and
spoke.
"IPV Arcturus; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; trip number forty three twenty nine.
Ready for final supplementary route and flight data, Tellus to Mars."
"Meteoric swarms still too numerous for safe travel along the scheduled route,"
came promptly from the speaker. "You must stay further away from the plane of the
ecliptic. The ether will be clear for you along route E2-P6-W4I-K3-Ri9-S7-Mi4. You will
hold a constant acceleration of 981.27 centimeters between initial and final check
stations. Your take-off will be practically unobstructed, but you will have to use the
utmost caution in landing upon Mars, as in order to avoid a weightless detour and a loss
of thirty one minutes you must pass very close to both the Martian satellites. To do so
safely you must pass the last meteorological station, Mi4, on schedule time plus or
minus five seconds, at scheduled velocity plus or minus ten meters, with exactly the
given negative acceleration of 981.27 centimeters, and exactly upon the pilot ray Mi4
will have set for you."
"All x." Breckenridge studied his triplex chronometer intently, then unplugged and
glanced around the control room, in various parts of which half a dozen assistants were
loafing at their stations.
"Control and power check-out Ч Hipe!" he barked. "Driving converters and
projectors!"
The first assistant scanned his meters narrowly as he swung a multi-point switch
in a flashing arc. "Converter efficiency 100, projector reactivity 100; on each of numbers
one to forty-five inclusive. All x."
"Dirigible projectors!"
Two more gleaming switches leaped from point to point. "Converter efficiency
100, projector reactivity 100, dirigibility 100, on each of numbers one to thirty-two,
inclusive, of upper band; and on each of numbers one to thirty-two, inclusive, of lower
band. All x."
"Gyroscopes!"
"35,000. Drivers in equilibrium at ten degrees plus. All x."
"Upper lights and lookout plates!"
The second assistant was galvanized into activity, and upon a screen before him
there appeared a view as though he were looking directly upward from the prow of the
great vessel. The air above them was full of aircraft of all shapes and sizes, and
occasionally the image of one of that flying horde flared into violet splendor upon the
screen as it was caught in the mighty, roving beam of one of the twelve ultra-light
projectors under test.
"Upper lights and lookout platesЧall x," the second assistant reported, and other
assistants came to attention as the check-out went on.
"Lower lights and lookout plates!"
"All x," was the report, after each of the twelve ultralights of the stern had swung
around in its supporting brackets, illuminating every recess of the dark depths of the
bottom well of the berth and throwing the picture upon another screen in brilliant violet
relief.
"Lateral and vertical detectors!"
"Laterals XP27ioЧall x. Verticals AJ429OЧall x."
"Receptors!"
"15,270 kilofranksЧall x."