"Allen Steele - Orbital Decay" - читать интересную книгу автора (Steele Allen)

Skycorp's front office in Huntsville sent a request for publicity
photos to illustrate press releases, the snapshots sent back were
usually of Dave and John and Bob at work in their neat little
compartment, dressed in their neat little uniforms, with a caption like
''Olympus Station scientists at work uncovering the secrets of the
universe."' Everyone else aboard Skycan looked like the Three
Stooges.

The weather station was a hemispherical bulge at the end of Olympus'
hub, which was kept permanently pointed toward Earth. Half of the dome
was windowed with thick Plexiglas, permitting the best view of Earth
available on the space station. Arrayed around the window were various
consoles and screens, the largest of which was the TV screen belonging
to the telescope. The telescope itself was a smaller version of the
big space telescope in orbit near Skycan, which was used by the
astrophysics lab. It was positioned outside the dome on a yoke and was
operated by a joystick on the console below the TV screen, which turned
the box-shaped instrument in the direction desired. Whatever was
captured in the telescope's three-inch lens was transmitted to the TV
screen inside the dome.

Hooker attached his own Velcro slippers to the carpet and walked to the
bucket seat in front of the telescope console. As he sat down and

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strapped himself in, Dave bent over next to him and put his fingers on
the console's touchpad controls. "What'll it be today, Popeye?"' he
asked pleasantly.

"There's clear skies over the Rockies.... I got a really stunning view
of the Great Divide this morning. Can you believe there's still some
snow up there? Bob managed to see a whale pod swimming off the coast
of Nova Scotia a little while ago, too."

"Gulf of Mexico, " Hooker replied. "Off the coast of Florida. Panama
City area, northern part of the state."

"Kinda overcast over Florida today, Popeye," Bob said.

"He's right," Dave said. "There might be a hurricane developing in the
Caribbean. We've been keeping an eye on it for the past couple of
days."

"You'll have to make it short," said John, the gruffest of the trio.

"We have to track the thing, y'know."

Hooker wondered if they were watching the hurricane or the movements of