"Theodore Sturgeon - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sturgeon Theodore)

"Yes, sir," said the Captain. "That is, we can, or it can be run from a rather more conventional
control room directly under the conning tower. There are automatics for every function from
pumping sewage to changing stereo tapesтАФand manuals to override them."

"Deck's awash," said O'Brien's voice from the console, and a moment later, "Stern gone."

"Periscope depth," ordered the Captain. O'Brien responded and the strange light darkened a shade.
The Captain moved some controls. A large screen lit up, and showed a seascape, the sparkling blue-
green of sunlit, deep-water. He turned a wheel, and a grid, marked in degrees, began marching past
the picture. "This is how we get away from the greasy stick that hangs down in the middle of most
subs," he explained. "We have one 'midships, of course, but this repeater magnifies the periscope
image. Standing right here I can turn it any way including up, without marching around it in a circle
like a blind camel pulling buckets out of a well. And if we want it to, it'll lock on to an object by
light or infra-red or radar or sonar, and keep the image right there no matter which way we jump."

"Must've costтАФ"

"It did," said the Captain with pleasure, "and it's paid up."

"What's your floor?" asked the Admiral.

"A thousand, sir."

"Would that be a thousand feet?"

"Fathoms, Mr. Parker. More than a mile." The Congressman peered downward through the herculite
and looked as if he was suddenly afraid of falling.

"Take her down to two hundred feet," said the Admiral. "All ahead two-thirds, course zero."

"That's due North, isn't it?" asked the psychiatrist, shaking herself awake at last.

Chip Morton answered her; all this time he had been gazing at her in much the same way as she had
been gazing at the ocean, and was apparently as bemused. "Oh you are a sailor, aren't you?" he said
fatuously, as if he were talking to an exceptionally clever five-year-old. She passed him a chill brief
glance of barely aroused irritation, which only made him grin at herтАФa lost grin, for she was already
looking the other way.

"Two hundred feet," said the console.

"Trim her, then two-thirds ahead, course zero."

file:///C|/3226%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...ge%20to%20the%20Bottom%20of%20the%20Sea.htm (6 of 134) [1/3/2005 12:22:09 AM]
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea by Theodore Sturgeon


"Aye-aye, sir."

"And O'BrienтАФset loran and asdic alarms for 200 plus and 400 minus. We'll have a roof over our