"SMITH, KRIS TINE KATHLEEN RUSCH DEAN WESLEY - STAR TREK THIN AIR" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Kristine)

Printed in the U.S.A.

THE CLEAR CANISTER sitting on the Enterprise science lab bench held no
more than a few handfuls of brown soil, taken directly from a field
just outside of Belle Terre's main colony on the island side of the
planet. It was farm soil, nothing more. Recently tilled, the soil
smelled of rich possibilities, seasons full of fresh, crisp vegetables,
and the very future of Belle Terre.

Only there was something very wrong with this soil. And Spock was
trying to figure out exactly what that was.

On the counter beside the canister were almost two dozen other
canisters, all containing soil from different areas of Belle Terre. The
soil from the explosion blasted side of the planet seemed darker,
almost black with the radiation damage from what the colonists were
calling "the Burn." Two canisters seemed almost to be full of light
sand.

But, from what Spock had been told, areas of soil around the planet
were "going bad," as the colonists put it. Plants were dying, and in
places the soil even smelled foul and rotten. Lilian Coates had asked
Captain Kirk to look into it, and the captain had assigned Spock to
help the colonist scientists discover what was wrong.

All the soil canisters in the lab were carefully labeled and sorted by
region and continent. It had taken three Enterprise crew members most
of a day to collect all of them for Spock. And he had spent the last
two hours analyzing the data from scans of each sample. His findings
had not been what he had expected. The soil contained polymers that
just didn't belong logically on Belle Terre, let alone in every sample
from every region of the planet.

Spock held his tricorder over the sample of rich soil from the largest
island on the undamaged side of Belle TerTe, then inserted a small
silver probe into the soil. He again checked the readings of the soil,
then stepped back and flipped a switch on a nearby panel, sending a
slight jolt of electricity into the soil through the probe. What he
had expected from his readings was a small puff of smoke as the
electrical jolt broke down unknown gel molecules he had discovered in
the soil.

That wasn't want he got.

The soil sample exploded with the force of a large bomb.

The impact smashed Spock back against the wall, knocking the wind from
him. The room swirled with smoke and Spock's ears rang. He could feel
a dozen cuts and gashes on his body from flying glass and de bris.