"Timothy Zahn - Spinneret" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

helmsman. "Ease her out, Mr. Bailey," he ordered. "Mind you don't wing the
Pathfinder on the way."

Bailey grinned. "Aye, sir," he said. Slowly, moving on its cold-nitrogen docking
jets, the Aurora left the workframe's snug confines. It passed well clear of the
Pathfinder's work-frameтАФStewart noticed peripherally their nearly completed
sister ship flashing its running lights in saluteтАФand drifted off toward the barely
visible horizon of the dark world rolling beneath them. "Lot of lights showing
down there," Reger, the navigator, commented.

"Lot of people down there to use them," Stewart grunted. And the scientists with
their fancy telescopes and theories had better be right, he added silently to
himself; there had better be more planets out there for the Aurora to find.

"Clear for shift," Bailey announced, looking over at Stewart. "Course vector less
than five-second deviation."

"Acknowledged," Stewart nodded, putting his fears for Earth's survival out of his
mind. "Make it good for the cameras, Mr. Bailey: shift!"

And with a flash of sheet-lightning discharge through every viewport and vision
sensor, the stars vanished into the absolute black of hyperspace. Next stop, Alpha
Centauri.

Mankind was on its way.

***
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Des...p/Zahn,%20Timothy%20-%20Spinneret%20[v1.1].html (2 of 309) [2/1/2004 3:54:12 AM]
Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret




"It certainly has every reason to be Earthlike," astrophysicist Hashimoto
commented, his stubby fingers dancing lithely over the readout screen. "Position
should give reasonable temperature, size is within a few percent of Earth's, and
we're getting a strong oxygen reading even at this distance."

Stewart nodded, refusing to get his hopes up too high. In the six systems Aurora
had so far visited, there'd already been one false alarm. "We'll continue on course;
that should get us close enough for better readings. If a landing seems
warrantedтАФ"

"Captain!" Bailey barked, his voice tight and a half octave above normal.
"Something on the screenтАФmoving fast!"

Stewart spun around in his chair тАж and froze. Coming out from behind the
crescent of their target planet was a slowly moving star. Seconds later it was
joined by a second тАж and a third.