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

the nurse bore, had not yet begun to rise, and Jupi, the brightest of the
planets, was only just silvering the tree-tops. Under them it was as dark as
on a starless night.
The young Faetian's heart was thudding in his breast.
Kutsi Merc's pulse was throbbing evenly enough. He had gained access to
the Lair, into which not even a snake could crawl its way...


Chapter Two

TWO SHORES


Ave Mar first met Kutsi Merc, his secretary, half a cycle before the
encounter with Mada on the Great Shore.
Ave Mar's steamcar stopped that day in a mountain pass on the continent
of the Culturals of Danjab.
The view took Ave's breath away. The ocean, revealed from high up,
seemed to ascend to the very heavens. The misty band of the horizon looked
like a ridge of lofty clouds.
Below lay Business City. The skyscrapers stood in concentric circles.
They were linked by ring and radial streets and avenues, on both sides of
which lay green parks and glittering lakes. In the city centre towered a
skyscraper resembling the conical axis of the monstrous Wheel of Business
Life.
Ave put his foot down on the pedal to open the high-pressure boiler
valve. The steam drive slowly moved the car from its place, accelerating it
to the required speed.
Steamcars had appeared very recently, but had quickly replaced the
obsolete vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. In their time,
these machines had poisoned the air of the cities with their exhaust gases.
The fuel they consumed could have served as chemical raw material for
clothing and other goods in daily use.
As he drove at top speed along the magnificent road, Ave Mar crossed
the outer circle avenue on which stood the tower blocks of Business City.
From a distance, they seemed conical. In fact, they were stepped. They
were girt by a spiral steamcar road which gave access to each storey in
succession and to the garage entrances outside every flat.
The conical towers housed shops with corridors leading to exits onto
the spiral road, restaurants, cafes, and also theatres and concert or
viewing halls. There were production workshops and business offices in the
centre of the multistorey building.
Moving staircases led to the garages under the living quarters.
The ordinary Faetians, toiling in the workshops, had no cars and hardly
ever left their cramped little rooms, unaware of any world other than that
shut in by the skyscraper's spiral roadway.
Ave stopped his steamcar. The garage doors opened automatically and
closed behind him when he had driven in.
The car needed no maintenance, being permanently ready for use with the
necessary steam pressure in its boiler. The heating device of disintegration