"Donald E. Wollheim - The Secret of the ninth Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wollheim Donald A)

medical and electronic tests to determine whether this charge is still with
you?"
Burl shook his head. "I'll go along with anything you say."
"Very well," the general smiled. "We'll make our purposes clear to you
afterward. But we want to get this over as soon as we can."
Burl left the room in company with three technicians who had come in. They took
him to the medical office at the base and there he was given a complete check.
At the electronics lab, electrodes were attached to him and careful readings
were made of the natural electrical resistance of his body, and of his apparent
physical charge. After an hour of tests, Burl was brought back to the main
council room.
As he entered, he sensed he had interrupted something important. His father
looked at him, and Burl detected in his face a certain curious mingling of pride
and parental concern. What, the young man wondered, were they up to?
When he was seated, the company grew silent. The general pursed his lips, looked
directly at Burl, and said, "I think the time has come to acquaint you with the
problem our world is facing. We may ask you to make a very personal decision,
and we think you ought to know what may hang on it."
He stopped. Every face at the table was grim. Mark Denning, too, was sober,
though Burl detected that he also did not quite know what was to come.
"It is apparent that some race of beings, some species from outer space, unknown
to us, has begun a process of tapping the power and light of the Sun for
transmission elsewhere. The station on Earth, which you shut down, was an
important one. But... it was not the only one. There are others, operating in
this solar system." He nodded to Merckmann.
The old astronomer took the cue. "The observatories of the Earth, aided by the
lunar observers, have definitely determined that there is still a certain amount
of light being shifted from the faces of other planets and diverted. We have
detected by telescopic and telethermic measurements that there are areas of
Sun-disturbances on the surfaces of the planets Mercury and Mars. We suspect the
existence of one on Venus. We believe that this may prove to be true on other
planets as well, but we have no doubt of the first two.
"Measurements of the amount of Sun power being piped away, and of the effect of
the magnetic disturbances used to create and maintain these stations, have shown
that they will have a definite effect on the structure of the Sun itself. We
have not yet completed all our calculations, but preliminary studies indicate
that if this type of solar interference is not stopped, it may cause our Sun to
nova in somewhere between two and three years time."
He stopped, but the thirty-year-old prodigy, Russell Clyde, took up the story.
"By nova, we mean that the Sun will literally explode. It will flame up, burst
to many times its present size. Such an explosion will burn Earth to cinders,
render all the planets inside the orbit of Jupiter uninhabitable, scorch their
atmospheres, dissolve their waters into steam, and make them lifeless flaming
deserts. We have seen other stars turn nova. We have measured their explosions.
We know just about what age and stability inside a sun is necessary to cause
this. And we fear that the danger of our own Sun doing so is great-- if the
Sun-tapping is not stopped."
Everyone at the table was silent. Burl was stunned. Finally he caught his
breath. "But how can we stop it? We can't get to all the planets in time. Our
rockets are not ready-- and rocketships would be too slow. Why it would take two