"Robert L. Forward - Rocheworld 02 - Return to Rocheworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forward Robert L)

hug to cop a feel. Reiki LeRoux, the anthropologist whose mixed Japanese Cajun
descent gave her what Nels considered the most interesting DNA of all those
aboard, was enjoying a slice of Nels's famous home-made bread spread liberally
with algaebutter and nothing else. The flour for the bread came from a special
line of algae that Nels had developed, while the yeast was a strain that had
been handed down to Nels from his mother. Nels also used his mother's recipe
for making the bread. His mother's bread had been famous throughout all of
Goddard Station and Nels was prepared to bet his bread was the best in the
galaxy. Reiki nodded her head toward Nels in acknowledgment of his cooking.
Reiki was too polite to embarrass him with open praise.
Nels decided that Cinnamon had the right idea and slipped off to the
hydroponics deck. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Jinjur in the throng, but
then, for the whole two hour feast he hadn't said a word to any one. Not that
anybody, especially not Nels himself, had noticed.
Jinjur, too, had left the party early. She and George were sitting on
the control deck planning the next phase of the mission.
"I know we only have three landers left, and more than three moons
around Gargantua to study," said George. "But it's vitally important that we
go back to Rocheworld." The oldest member of the crew and second in command,
Colonel George Gudunov was respected for more than his grey hairs. He had a
Ph.D. in Planetary Atmospheres and had written a number of science fiction
stories and popular science articles. He had earned the admiration of everyone
but the military. Back in 1998, while he was still a young captain in the Air
Force, George suggested to his superiors that they test the Air Force Space
Laser Forts Project in a non-threatening manner by using their powerful laser
beams to push small lightsails carrying robotic interstellar probes. When a
number of space laser forts suffered catastrophic failures under this two day
test, George was commended by Congress for exposing the problem, but the
military brass never forgave him. They retaliated by keeping him muzzled as a
permanent fight instructor until, twenty-four years later, when positive




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reports came in from the fly-by probe sent to Barnard. Promoting him to
colonel and sending him off to the stars was the military's final solution to
his embarrassing presence, but George had proved his integral worth.
"Those aliens are so far ahead of us in mathematics that we need to set
up permanent communication with them," George was insisting.
"But what good is pure mathematics?" said Jinjur.
"It is the key to physics and technology," said George. "At first
glance, it would seem that advanced mathematics is just a barren exercise in
pure logic and should have no relationship at all to the real world. In fact,
our mathematicians go out of their way to design the logic of mathematics so
that it isn't contaminated by any rules based on 'common sense.' But, for some
reason, the behavior of the real world follows the logic of mathematics and no
other logic. If we have a mathematical tool and can calculate something using
it, we are pretty sure nature will behave the way the mathematics predicts.
But we don't have enough of those mathematical tools, and we know it.