"Charles Stross - Missile Gap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

That dot of light is a million kilometers in radiusтАУfive times the distance that used to separate our old Earth
from its moon. (To cross the radius of the disk, an NP-101 would have to fly at Mach Three for almost ten
years.) We arenтАЩt even sure exactly where the centre of that dot lies on the disk: our highest sounding rocket,
the Nova-Orion block two, can barely rise two degrees above the plane of the disk before crashing back
again. Here is the scope of our knowledge of our surroundings, derived from the continental-scale mapping
cameras carried by Project Orion:
(A salmon pink area almost half an inch in diameter lights up around the red sand grain on the face of the
single.)
Of course, cameras at an altitude of a hundred thousand miles canтАЩt look down on new continents and
discern signs of Communist infiltration; at best they can listen for radio transmissions and perform
spectroscopic analyses of the atmospheric gasses above distant lands, looking for gasses characteristic of
industrial development such as chlorofluorocarbons and nitrogen oxides.
This leaves us vulnerable to unpleasant surprises. Our long term strategic analyses imply that we are almost
certainly not alone on the disk. In addition to the Communists, we must consider the possibility that whoever
build this monstrous structureтАУclearly one of the wonders of the universeтАУmight also live here. We must
contemplate their motives for bringing us to this place. And then there are the aboriginal cultures discovered
on continents F-29 and F-364, both now placed under quarantine. If some land masses bear aboriginal
inhabitants, we may speculate that they, too, have been transported to the disk in the same manner as
ourselves, for some as-yet unknown purpose. It is possible that they are genuine stone-age dwellersтАУor that
they are the survivors of advanced civilizations that did not survive the transition to this environment. What is
the possibility that there exists on the disk one or more advanced alien civilizations that are larger and more
powerful than our own? And would we recognize them as such if we saw them? How can we go about
estimating the risk of our encountering hostile Little Green MenтАУnow that other worlds are in range of even a
well-equipped sailboat, much less the Savannah-class nuclear powered exploration ships? Astronomers Carl
Sagan and Daniel Drake estimate the probability as highтАУso high, in fact, that they believe there are several
such civilizations out there.
We are not alone. We can only speculate about why we might have been brought here by the abductors, but
we can be certain that it is only a matter of time before we encounter an advanced alien civilization that may
well be hostile to us. This briefing film will now continue with an overview of our strategic preparations for first
contact, and the scenarios within which we envisage this contingency arising, with specific reference to the
Soviet Union as an example of an unfriendly ideological superpowerтАж




Chapter Eight: Tenure Track
After two weeks, Maddy is sure sheтАЩs going mad.
She and Bob have been assigned a small prefabricated house (not much more than a shack, although it has
electricity and running water) on the edge of town. HeтАЩs been drafted into residential works, put to work
erecting more buildings: and this is the nearest thing to a success theyтАЩve had, because after a
carefully-controlled protest his status has been corrected, from just another set of unskilled hands to trainee
surveyor. A promotion of which he is terribly proud, evidently taking it as confirmation that theyтАЩve made the
right move by coming here.
Maddy, meanwhile, has a harder time finding work. The district hospital is fully staffed. They donтАЩt need her,
wonтАЩt need her until the next shipload of settlers arrive, unless she wants to pack up her bags and go
tramping around isolated ranch settlements in the outback. In a yearтАЩs time the governor has decreed theyтАЩll
establish another town-scale settlement, inland near the mining encampments on the edge of the Hoover
Desert. Then theyтАЩll need medics to staff the new hospital: but for now, sheтАЩs a spare wheel. Because Maddy
is a city girl by upbringing and disposition, and not inclined to take a job tramping around the outback if she
can avoid it.