"Woods, Laurence - The Colossus Of Maia" - читать интересную книгу автора (Woods Laurence)

thus the approaching body is sighted and avoided.
"Rockwell leaps to his feet, checks the oncoming direction of the body from the
dials connected with the gravitometer, then trains the finder through a port. He
sees a point of light, indicating the body which influenced the instrument;
rapidly calculates; it will pass close to the ship, but not too close.
"He watches as it grows larger; a puzzled look comes over his face--can this be
a meteor? He strains his eyes trying to make out the details."
BOYER'S FACE edged closer to the screen; his voice dropped. Throughout the
nation his listeners likewise drew themselves closer unthinkingly.
"Suddenly his face turns white; he gasps, staggers back. Then he puts his eye to
the finder's lens again as if unable to trust his senses. Yes, it is! He turns
on the automatic cameras, rings for the Captain, and paces nervously about the
room as he waits.
"In a moment Commander Benson appears, turns to the telescope at Rockwell's
motion. He, too, stares intently and gasps. The two look at each other, then
Rockwell whispers: `What did you see, sir?'
"The Captain starts to speak, then stops. `Impossible!' he murmurs as he turns
again to the finder. `Impossible !' They shut off the camera, quickly wheel it
into the darkroom. Again Benson turns to the finder. `Impossible!' he murmurs
again and again, then, as Rockwell beckons him over to the chart-table where a
fresh print has been laid out, `but it is there.'
The two both look out the port, for, by now, the thing has approached close
enough to be visible to the naked eye. In a few moments, it will be observable
to the passengers in the observation center. Rockwell whispers to Benson: `It's
a body, sir, isn't it?'
"Benson nods: `Yes, it's a body, but--
" `But it's too large.' Yes, floating in space is the body of a man, naked save
for a ragged loincloth of some nondescript material. A young man, well-featured,
brown hair, his blue eyes staring ahead sightlessly, his mouth set in an
enigmatic smile. The features and build are decidedly Anglo-Saxon.
"But the most brain-staggering thing about this corpse is its size. It is fully
sixty feet long from toes to crown, floating silently through the void in an
orbit of its own.
"Now, from the ship, come cries; the passengers have seen it. Commander and
officer stare at each other, a new thought in their minds. Whence came this
thing? A planet of giants? A member of the crew of some extra-Solarian explorer
from beyond the realm of stars? Or perhaps some unfortunate inhabitant of a
world torn apart millions of years past in the endless vistas of the universe, a
body floating aimlessly through the void ever since? Could any of these be the
solution to the mystery?
"Several hours later, Rockwell looks up from a mass of calculations. `I've got
it, sir,' he says simply. `It comes from the asteroids, from asteroid number 66.
The given name of this one is Maia; its orbit goes straight there and apparently
originated there.'
"What is known about Maia? This thought is uppermost in their minds. But little
can be found. None has ever been known to have landed there; Maia is but a midge
among the many thousand worldlets that make up the asteroids."
Boyer paused a moment, ruffling a sheaf of papers to which he referred at times.
In the background, appropriate music swelled, then died.
"IT IS A MONTH later. A small ship is rocketing its way through the asteroid