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

belt, dodging every little while as its reflectors warn of approaching danger.
All around it space is filled with tiny glowing discs of light. Each is visibly
moving; each close, dangerously close to the ship. Every once in a while one of
these lights will seem to flare up, seem to grow tremendously as it comes
directly at the craft. No human could possibly work the controls with the
delicate swiftness required. But, as the danger approaches, an automatic reflex
senses it; simultaneously comes the spurt of a rocket jet, just enough to shunt
the ship aside thus to avoid the danger.
"Lt. Rockwell calls out, `Maia dead ahead; we'll land in an hour.'
"The other occupant of the scoutship comes forward. He, too, had been on the
Peter Penguin when the monstrous corpse was sighted. Rockwell has been detailed
to accompany Dr. Burton on this research-trip. Maia is close now; its disc can
be made out plainly. A small planet, about twenty miles in diameter as Burton
measures it.
"The ship decelerates, then swings in close and circles. They can see the
surface unrolling before them. A strange little planet, containing an
atmosphere, hills, mountains, rivers, seas, and oceans. Almost an Earth in
miniature. But the highest mountain is only a few feet high; the oceans are
shallow lakes, and the widest rivers are but tiny trickles. Vegetation is here;
green moss and lichens. Is this world filled with tiny animals and microscopic
fish?
"They come to a desert region. Here, for several miles (hundreds in proportion
to the other land on the little world) barren ground rolls. It is broken here
and there by canyons less than a foot deep at the most. Suddenly Burton seizes
the other by the shoulder. `Look!' he exclaims, pointing.
"It is a cabin. A small, one-room building made up of mud and clay packed
together to form a sort of adobe. And it is large, about ten feet high, quite
Earth-size. Behind it is a deep pit where the materials were dug; before it is a
cleared path leading to where a river flows through the desert. Along the banks
of this river are plants--earth plants. Wheat, corn, flowers. Lining the bank
for at least a mile on each side, this strange garden flourishes, although it is
but a few feet thick.
"And now, in the desert, they see something else. A wreck. It is the remains of
a small space ship. They circle and land beside the river, testing the
atmosphere while so doing. It is breathable, but they will need air helmets and
air condensors to make the required pressure.
"Rockwell lands first. He puts his feet on the ground, carefully takes a step,
and goes up about thirty feet; his weight on this world is less than one pound.
Burton quickly gets superweighted shoes for the two of them, but, even so, their
weight is less than a half-dozen pounds and walking is unnecessary. All they
have to do is to lift their feet off the ground and flap their arms--they can
fly quite as well as if they were birds.
"`Look at that wheat,' calls Burton. It is giant wheat, towering at least twenty
feet into the air. At length, they come to the clay hut, descend to the ground
and enter. It is a one-room affair--a stove, two beds, a table, shelves
well-stocked with a large variety of utensils and books. One is Iying open on
the table--a diary." Boyer paused again, smiling slightly. "Tomorrow, at this
same time, I shall reveal the amazing contents of this diary"--he held up a
small volume so that all could see--"which contains the secret of the colossus
of Maia."