"Alexander Kazantsev. The Destruction of Faena (ГИБЕЛЬ ФАЭНЫ, англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

"Aren't we cheating this way? Why this envelope shutting us off from
the new world. I've opened my visor all the way!"
"Mada, my dear!" warned Ave. "That's dangerous."
"We've found a world of amazing beauty, but we haven't proved that we
can live on it."
"We must remember Dm Sat's warning."
"What is there to be afraid of? Dangerous invisible beings? But light
is the best medicine for them. I myself am a Sister of Health. Our ancestors
didn't take thought, they injected themselves with illness-creating microbes
in order to rid all Faetians of deadly diseases. It is the doctor on Terr
who should be the first to shed a space-suit! It is a duty! Besides, I want
to bathe in the lake. Will my Ave, who tamed the ocean waves on a board,
back out now? Take the tablets I gave you. They will protect you from the
unknown world of the Planet of Light. And its light will help us. Take off
your space-suit! And help me."
"Why are you tempting me, Mada?"
"So that we can be the first to do what must be done anyway. After all,
we can't go back to Faena without having tried to live here in real freedom.
And not in a shell."
So saying, Mada plucked a golden apple and held it out to Ave.
"Peel it for me, please. It has a skin as bright as Sol and as tough as
one of our space-suits."
When Quest began approaching the orbit of Terr, the members of the
expedition found the brilliant light of Sol more and more intolerable. It
became particularly searing when the ship went into orbit round the planet.
Mada established that Terr's atmosphere was strikingly like that of
Faena. Except that there was little carbon dioxide and there was no
greenhouse effect. The planet freely emitted the excess solar heat into
space. The conditions of existence on it were consequently similar to those
on Faena, as Ave Mar had once suggested.
Toni Fae, the astronomer, observed the planet with the enthusiasm of a
poet. Most of it was under water and seemed to be hatched with the lines of
the waves. The land and sea surfaces were strikingly varied in colour. But
most of all, there were clouds over Terr. Singly, they cast distinct shadows
onto the surface of the planet, and in the misty oceans here and there it
was possible to distinguish the spiral whirlwinds of hurricanes raging down
below.
But nowhere, neither on land nor on the sea coast, could they see the
patches of towns stretching out the tendrils of roads. This was what struck
everyone at the first sight of Terr from space.
"Must be a dead planet," suggested Flight Engineer Gor Terr.
"It's a live one!" exclaimed Toni Fae. "The green of the continents
means vegetation. And the others..."
"That's the whole point; you won't guess what they mean."
"Why not?" said Toni Fae animatedly. "It's easy!"
"R-really?" said Gor Terr, astonished.
"The priests in ancient times believed that every living being was
surrounded by an aura. Its colour was supposed to enable the 'psychic
vision' to recognise the most secret thoughts and feelings."
"You mean the pr-riests would have looked on Terr as a living