"Jack Williamson - The Ultimate Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williamson Jack)

тАЬCertainly it has been transformed.тАЭ Nodding, Uncle Pen
stopped to smile at Tanya as she left her game with the sun
on his back and came to sit crosslegged at his feet.
тАЬWhatever you did was ages ago. Our historians are
convinced that weтАЩve done more ourselves.тАЭ
тАЬYou changed the Earth?тАЭ Casey was disappointed and a
little doubtful. тАЬHow?тАЭ
тАЬWe removed undersea ledges and widened straits to
reroute the ocean circulation and warm the poles. We
diverted rivers to fill new lakes and bring rain to deserts. We
engineered new life-forms that improved the whole biocosm.тАЭ
тАЬBut still you owe us something. We put you there.тАЭ
тАЬOf course.тАЭ Uncle Pen shrugged. тАЬExcavating the station, I
uncovered evidence that the last impact annihilated life on
Earth. The planet had been reseeded sometime before the
lunar impact occurred.тАЭ
тАЬWe did it.тАЭ Casey grinned. тАЬYouтАЩre lucky we were here.тАЭ
тАЬYour ship?тАЭ Pepe had gone to stand at the edge of the
dome, looking down at the monster machines and Uncle PenтАЩs
7
 The Ultimate Earth
by Jack Williamson


neat little flyer, so different from the rocket spaceplanes we
had seen in the old video holos. тАЬCan it go to other planets?тАЭ
тАЬIt can.тАЭ He nodded. тАЬThe planets of other suns.тАЭ
TanyaтАЩs eyes went wide, and Pepe asked, тАЬHow does it fly
in space with no rocket engines?тАЭ
тАЬIt doesnтАЩt,тАЭ he said. тАЬItтАЩs called a slider. It slides around
space, not through it.тАЭ
тАЬTo the stars?тАЭ Tanya whispered. тАЬYouтАЩve been to other
stars?тАЭ
тАЬTo the planets of other stars.тАЭ He nodded gravely. тАЬI hope
to go again when my work here is finished.тАЭ
тАЬAcross the light-years?тАЭ Casey was awed. тАЬHow long does
it take?тАЭ
тАЬNo time at all.тАЭ He smiled at our wonderment. тАЬNot in
slider flight. Outside of space-time, there is no time. But there
are laws of nature, and time plays tricks that may surprise
you. I could fly across a hundred light-years to another star in
an instant of my own time and come back in another instant,
but two hundred years would pass here on Earth while I was
away.тАЭ
тАЬI didnтАЩt know.тАЭ TanyaтАЩs eyes went wider still. тАЬYour friends
would all be dead.тАЭ
тАЬWe donтАЩt die.тАЭ
She shrank away as if suddenly afraid of him. Pepe opened
his mouth to ask something, and shut it without a word.
He chucked at our startlement. тАЬWeтАЩve engineered