"Jack Vance - Tschai - Complete" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
 CITY OF THE CHASCH

of the Explorator IV flared a dim and aging star,
Carina 4269; to the other hung a single planet, gray-brown under a heavy
blanket of atmosphere. The star was distinguished only by a curious amber
cast to its light. The planet was somewhat larger than Earth, attended by a
pair of small moons with rapid periods of orbit. An almost typical K2 star,
an unremarkable planet, but for the men aboard the Explorator IV the
system was a source of wonder and fascination.
In the forward control pod stood Commander Marin, Chief Officer
Deale, Second Officer Walgrave: three men similarly trim, erect, brisk of
movement, wearing the same neat white uniforms, and so much in each
other's company that the wry, offhand intonations in which they spoke, the
half-sarcastic, half-facetious manner in which they phrased their thoughts,
were almost identical. With scanscopes-hand-held binocular
photomultiphers, capable of enormous magnification and amplification-
they looked across to the planet.
Walgrave commented, "At casual observation, a habitable planet. Those
clouds are surely water-vapor."
"If signals emanate from a world," said Chief Officer Deale, "we almost
automatically assume it to be inhabited. Habitability follows as a natural
consequence of habitation."
Commander Marin gave a dry chuckle. "Your logic, usually irrefutable, is
at fault. We are presently two hundred and twelve light-years from Earth.
We received the signals twelve light-years out; hence they were broadcast
two hundred years ago. If you recall, they halted abruptly. This world may
be habitable; it may be inhabited; it may be both. But not necessarily
either."
Deale gave his head a doleful shake. "On this basis, we can't even be sure
that Earth is inhabited. The tenuous evidence available to us-"
Beep beep went the communicator. "Speak!" called Commander Marin.
The voice of Dant, the communications engineer, came into the pod:
"I'm picking up a fluctuating field; I think it's artificial but I can't tune it in.
It just might be some sort of radar."
Marin frowned, rubbed his nose with his knuckle. "I'll send down the
scouts, then we'll back away, out of range."
 Marin spoke a code-word, gave orders to the scouts Adam Reith and
Paul Waunder. "Fast as possible; we're being detected. Rendezvous at
System axis, up, Point D as in Deneb."
"Right, sir. System axis, up, Point D as in Deneb. Give us three minutes."
Commander Marin went to the macroscope and began an anxious search
of the planet's surface, clicking through a dozen wavelengths. "There's a