"James White - Lifeboat" - читать интересную книгу автора (White James)

quickly.
They would be different people in space, he thought as he gave a careful last
look around. Different but not necessarily better. The book had gone into
great detail regarding the odd quirks and outright personality
changes-naturally occurring, of course, not those induced by drugs-which some
people developed during space voyage. It went into even greater detail about
the deep-rooted psychological reasons for it. Mercer sighed, lay down on his
couch, and swallowed his own anti-nausea medication while he was strapping in.
On the screen above him the picture of Eurydice and the gantry was replaced by
a view of the distant hills and landing lake as someone switched to the
onboard TV camera. He slipped on his headset and said, "Mercer. Passenger
section ready."
Collingwood's voice sounded in his earpiece. "So I see. But are you quite sure
that they are all settled and medicated? I realize that you are keen and are
probably trying to impress me with your efficiency, but I shall not be
impressed if a lot of passengers try to turn themselves inside out while we
are dumping the boosters."
The tone softened a little as he went on. "Missing the pip is an inconvenience
these days instead of a disaster. Our launch window is as wide as we want to
make it, so if there is anything worrying you that might require a Hold, let's
have it, Mercer."
While the Captain had been talking. Mercer had been thinking about Stone and
wondering how he could explain his suspicions without sounding like a fussy
old woman. He couldn't.
"No problems, sir."
"Good. We lift in four minutes."
Mercer spent the time checking that the vacuum cleaner under his couch was
handy and worrying about the period of weightless maneuvering, which would
begin when they went into Earth orbit. Both the book and his instructor had
painted awful pictures of weightless nausea running wild. It could become
critical, they had said, a chain reaction, which could spread even to those
who had taken medication, and the job of clearing the air was difficult and
distasteful. An incident like that was the one thing guaranteed to sour the
whole voyage.
He was still worrying when the boosters ignited and acceleration piled
invisible weights on his chest. The projection screen showed the launch
complex and landing lake shrinking below them. More and more territory crawled
in from the edges of the screen: the pale cross-hatching of a town, the grey
smears of mountains flattened by the near-vertical sunlight, tiny layers of
shadow sandwiched between the ground and the clouds.
He moved his head carefully so as to watch Stone.
Anyone with a TV in their living room had seen it all before.
Chapter III.
"This is the Captain, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that you are comfortable
and that you will have a pleasant trip. We shall make two complete orbits of
Earth, during which a number of minor course-corrections will be necessary for
us to match orbits with Station Three to dump our boosters. Please remain
strapped in until these maneuvers are completed, which will be in a little
under four hours after we reach the vicinity of the station.
"During the next fifteen minutes you will notice periodic fogging of the