"Lee Edgar - Return to Andromeda" - читать интересную книгу автора (Edgar Lee)

is his daughter.’
‘Time compression,’ said the girl in question.
‘Had your father really been to Andromeda?’ asked Juanita.
Cassi nodded. ‘I checked the data-log on Iris and that of Wayfarer One, this ship. Both computers listed a
similar sequence of events. It took Commander Markham thirty-seven years to reach Andromeda. Father got
there there six months later.’
‘And..?’
‘When they arrived, they were guided to a planet called Mythos on one of the outer arms of the spiral. The
people greeted both crews with peace and friendship. They were made very welcome.’
‘Henry Markham didn’t return, did he?’
‘No. All his crew were in their seventies by the time they got there and the help they could give was
minimal.’
‘Help?’
‘The whole galaxy was rapidly collapsing into a black hole.’
‘Why couldn’t we see this on Earth?’ asked Bob Walker.
‘You will, in time.’
‘Over two million years of time,’ added her husband. ‘Visual evidence can only travel at the speed of light
and Andromeda is over two million light years from Earth.’
Juanita looked puzzled. ‘I believe you, Cassi. Nevertheless, I am-a confused as to how your father can have
got there and back in only one month. You say it took him over thirty years?’
‘Thirty-seven. And thirty-eight back, allowing for galaxial deceleration.’
‘Seventy-five years?’
‘Plus the five years on Mythos trying to help them.’
‘Good, grief,’ said Bob. ‘He wears well for his age. I wouldn’t have put him at much more than fifty.’
‘Jim Duncan was Europa Corporation’s youngest ever Fleet Commander,’ said Mike. ‘He was thirty-one
when he left Orion and that’s one of the reasons people laughed at him returning with a teenage daughter.
There was a certain physical impossibility about the whole thing.’
‘Then how...?’
‘All the other crew members were too old for the return trip,’ answered Cassi. ‘They died on Mythos.’
‘Old age?’
 ‘Partly. They also gave their bodies for research.’
‘What-a kind of research?’ asked Juanita suspiciously.
‘Embryonic and Androidal. The Andromedans were very clever and, because of what they learned, they
were able to replace father’s body with one they manufactured on Mythos.’
‘That’s why he looked no older when he returned,’ said Mike. ‘Everyone recognised him instantly even
though he was over one hundred years old.’
‘He still had the same brain,’ said Cassi. ‘As far as father is concerned, he is forever young.’
‘Forever?’
‘Well, as long as his brain lasts. That still ages although his body will last indefinitely.’
‘Unless General Phillips gets to him,’ said Mike.
Cassi glanced at her husband. ‘Don’t remind me.’
‘Was your father the only one to come back, Cassi?’ asked Juanita kindly.
The younger woman got to her feet and paced the floor. ‘First of all, they tried to send back a crew of
Andromedan Humanoids in Wayfarer One.’
‘What happened to them?’
‘They died,’ replied Mike. ‘Cassi and I found the ship wandering aimlessly close to Saturn. They had
travelled almost all the way back to Earth before they succumbed to atmospheric pressure. Iris tried to adjust
the internal pressure to accustom them ready for Earthfall but something went wrong, I guess.’
‘Iris again?’
Cassi shook her head. ‘Not Iris. She couldn’t make a mistake like that.’