"Jack Vance - Tschai 1 - City of the Chasch" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

see what I saw?"

"A torpedo."

Reith nodded. "The planet is inhabited."

"The inhabitants are far from cordial. That was a rough reception."

"We're a long way from home." Reith looked along the line of non-signifying dials and dead
indicator lights. "Nothing seems to be functioning. We're going to crash, unless I can make some
swift repairs." He limped aft to the engine room, to discover that a spare energy-cell, improperly
stowed, had crushed a connection box, creating a chaotic tangle of melted leads, broken crystals,
fused composites.

"I can fix it," Reith told Waunder, who had come aft to inspect the mess. "In about two months
with luck. Providing the spares are intact."

"Two months is somewhat too long," said Waunder. "I'd say we have two hours before we hit
atmosphere."

"Let's get to work."

An hour and a half later they stood back, eyeing the jury-rig with doubt and dissatisfaction.
"With luck we can land in one piece," said Reith gloomily. "You go forward, put some power into
the lifts; I'll see what happens."

A minute passed. The propulsors hummed; Reith felt the pressure of deceleration. Hoping that the
improvisations were at least temporarily sound, he went forward and resumed his seat. "What's it
look like?"

"Short range, not too bad. We'll hit atmosphere in about half an hour, somewhat under critical
velocity. We can come down to a soft landing-I hope. The long-range prognosis-not so good. Whoever
hit the ship with a torpedo can follow us down with radar. Then what?"

"Nothing good," said Reith.


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The planet below broadened under their view: a world dimmer and darker than Earth, bathed in tawny
golden light. They now could see continents and oceans, clouds, storms: the landscape of a mature
world.

The atmosphere whined around the car; the temperature gauge rose sharply toward the red mark.
Reith cautiously fed more power through the makeshift circuits. The boat slowed, the needle
quivered, sank back toward a comfortable level. There came a soft report from the engine room and
the boat began to fall free once more.