"Dafydd ab Hugh, Brad Linaweawer DOOM: Hell on Earth (english)" - читать интересную книгу автора

Then something socked me in the face, like a 10mm
shell, and agony exploded across my face. At first it
was bilateral; then it focused right behind my eye-
balls, like God's own worst migraine. For a few
seconds I thought my head literally was going to
detonate. Then it faded as the blood finally
repressurized my cranial arteries and rebooted my
brain. I looked at the chronometer: the entire black-
out had lasted only forty-five seconds.
It could have been forty-five years.
A low groan announced Arlene's return to con-
sciousness. "Fly," she moaned, "good luck."
I was too busy to say anything. But it was good
having her back again. The calculations she'd already
worked out for our glide path were okay, and I used
the retros to get us on her highway.
As we came in, the ride got bumpier and rougher.
The interior of the little craft started heating up.
Being so close together made us sweat all the faster.
When it got over fifty degrees centigrade, beads of
perspiration poured into my eyes, interfering with
vision.
But the temp continued to rise. The mail tubes are
supposed to be insulatedЧbut the skin on this one
was built for Mars.
In Earth atmosphere, we were being baked. The
temp boiled up past seventy degrees, and I was gasping
for air, every breath searing my lungs. My skin turned
red and I could barely hold the controls. Another
minute and we would be dead.
6
Fly!" Arlene screamed. "Blow the oxygen!
We'll lose it, but it'll heat up and blow out the
exhaust, cooling the interior!"
"Not again!" I said.
"Huh?"
"We'll be low on air again!"
"Do it, Fly, or we'll fry."
We took turns making the other face unpleasant
facts. It was something like being married.
I did as she commanded. The cooling effect made a
real difference. My brain was still on fire, but at least I
could think again.
"So what systems still aren't working?" she asked
next, still gasping from each searing breath.
This seemed like an opportune moment to be
completely honest. "Now that you mention it," I
mentioned, "the only one I'm worried about is the
landing system."
"What?"