"Jack Vance - Sail 25" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

"You have inspected the ship. The hull is a sandwich of lithium-beryllium, insulating foam, fiber and an interior
skin. Very light, held rigid by air pressure rather than by any in-nate strength of the material. We can therefore afford
enough space to stretch our legs and provide all of us with privacy. "The master's cubicle is to the left; under no
circum-stances is anyone permitted in my quarters. If you wish to speak to me, knock on my door. If I appear, good. If
I do not appear, go away. To the right are six cubicles which you may now distribute among yourselves by lot.
"Your schedule will be two hours study, four hours on watch, six hours off. I will require no specific rate of study
progress, but I recommend that you make good use of your time.
"Our destination is Mars. We will presently construct a new sail, then while orbital velocity builds up, you will
care-fully test and check all equipment aboard. Each of you will compute sail cant and course and work out among
your-selves any discrepancies which may appear. I shall take no hand in navigation. I prefer that you involve me in
no disaster. If any such occur I shall severely mark down the persons responsible.
"Singing, whistling, humming, are forbidden. I disapprove of fear and hysteria, and mark accordingly. No one dies
more than once; we are well aware of the risks of this, our chosen occupation. There will be no practical jokes. You
may fight, so long as you do not disturb me or break any instruments; however, I counsel against it, as it leads to
resentment, and I have known cadets to kill each other. I suggest coolness and detachment in your personal
relations. Use of the micro-film projector is of course at your own option. You may not use the radio either to dispatch
or receive messages. In fact, I have put the radio out of commission, as is my practice. I do this to emphasize the fact
that, sink or swim, we must make do with our own resources. Are there any questions? . . . Very good.
You will find that if you all behave with scrupulous correctness and accuracy, we shall in due course return safe and
sound, with a minimum of demerits and no casualties. I am bound to say, however, that in twelve pre-vious voyages
this has failed to occur. Now you select your cubicles, stow your gear. The carrier will bring up the new sail tomorrow,
and you will go to work."

3
The carrier discharged a great bundle of three-inch tub-ing: paper-thin lithium hardened with beryllium, reinforced
with filaments of mono-crystalline ironтАФa total length of eight miles. The cadets fitted the tubes end to end,
cement-ing the joints. When the tube extended a quarter-mile it was bent bow shaped by a cord stretched between
two ends, and further sections added. As the process continued the free end curved far out and around, and presently
began to veer back in toward the hull. When the last tube was in place the loose end was hauled down, socketed
home, to form a great hoop two and a half miles in diameter.
Henry Belt came out occasionally in his spacesuit to look on, and occasionally spoke a few words of sardonic
com-ment, to which the cadets paid little heed. Their mood had changed; this was exhilaration, to be weightlessly
afloat above the bright cloud-marked globe, with continent and ocean wheeling massively, below. Anything seemed
possible, even the training voyage with Henry Belt! When he came out to inspect their work, they grinned at each
other with indul-gent amusement. Henry Belt suddenly seemed a rather piti-ful creature, a poor vagabond suited only
for drunken bluster. Fortunate indeed that they were less naive than Henry Belt's previous classes! They had taken
Belt seriously; he had cowed them, reduced them to nervous pulp. Not this crew, not by a long shot! They saw
through Henry Belt! Just keep your nose clean, do your work, keep cheerful. The training voyage won't last but a few
months, and then real life be-gins. Gut it out, ignore Henry Belt as much as possible. This is the sensible attitude; the
best way to keep on top of the situation.
Already the group had made a composite assessment of its members, arriving at a set of convenient labels.
Culpepper: smooth, suave, easy-going. Lynch: excitable, argumentative, hot-tempered. Von Gluck: the artistic
temperament, delicate with hands and sensibilities. Ostrander: prissy, finicky, over-tidy. Sutton: moody, suspicious,
competitive. Verona: the plugger, rough at the edges, but persistent and reliable.
Around the hull swung the gleaming hoop, and now the carrier brought up the sail, a great roll of darkly shining
stuff. When unfolded and unrolled, and unfolded many times more, it became a tough gleaming film, flimsy as gold
leaf. Unfolded to its fullest extent it was a shimmering disk, already rippling and bulging to the light of the sun. The
cadets fitted the film to the hoop, stretched it taut as a drum-head, cemented it in place. Now the sail must carefully be
held edge on to the sun, or it would quickly move away, under a thrust of about a hundred pounds.
From the rim, braided-iron threads were led to a ring at the back of the parabolic reflector, dwarfing this as the