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

didn't have elevators; it was another sign of his lapsed mental
condition that he couldn't laugh at this irony. By the time he had
climbed halfway up the spoke, most of the one-third normal gravity
experienced on the rim of the station was gone, and he was not climbing
the ladder so much as pulling himself forward.

"Down" as a direction became meaningless; the spoke's shaft took a
horizontal rather than a vertical perspective. By the time Hooker
reached the hatch leading into the hub he was clinging lightly to the
ladder, experiencing zero gee. It was a sign of how long he had been
on Skycan--how long, too, he had trouble recalling--that he became
almost instantly acclimated, with only the slightest feeling of
queasiness. The spoke ended at the entrance to the hub, in a central
passageway running perpendicular to the rim. Another hatch opposite to
the one he emerged from led to the east spoke leading back down to the
other half of the torus. In one direction, the passageway led to
Command/Communications and the airlocks.

In the other, toward the south pole, were Power Control and
Meteorology.

The soft hiss of air from the vents was drowned out by ''Yesterday,"
reverberating off the metal walls. By the time he reached the weather
station at the end of the hub, passing the yellow radioactivity warning
signs on the hatches leading into Power Control, the Muzak had segued
into "Close To You'' and Hooker was feeling closer to the edge than
before. The hatch at the end of the corridor was marked
"METEORoLoGY--Authorized Personnel Only." Popeye grasped a handrail

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and pressed the button on the intercom by the hatch and waited, trying
to shut out the saccharine violins and chorus.
Impending insanity was
soundtracked by the Carpenters; there had to be better ways to lose
one's mind. The intercom crackled and he heard the voice of one of the
bogus meteorologists. This one called himself Dave, but no one knew
their real names.

"Yeah? Whoizzit?" ''Claude Hooker,'' Popeye said. "Hey, is the
telescope free now? For a few minutes?" The intercom was silent for a
moment. Popeye imagined Dave consulting with the other two men in the
crowded compartment beyond the hatch. Popeye's out there. Wants to
use the telescope. Any incoming transmissions ? He hoped things were
quiet in Cuba and Nicaragua today.

The intercom crackled again. "Yeah, okay, Popeye, for a few minutes.

Give us a chance to straighten up in here first, okay?"