"Alan Dean Foster - The Tessellated Tetrahexahedral Yellow Rose of Texas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

"Perham 71st?" wondered Chester. MacGregor appeared mildly surprised.

"You know him?"

"Only by reputation, sir, and through a couple of articles. It's not a name you read and quickly forget. I
don't know this Calumet."

"Jean Calumet," MacGregor elaborated, studying the note. "And a Sarah Goldberg."

"That's another name I know." Sometimes Chester wished the general would begin his puzzles with the
border instead of loose pieces. "She and Tut are both associated with all aspects of the search for
extraterrestrial life. They both worked on the directional programming for Pioneers sixteen and
seventeen. I guess Calumet's in a related field of study, if not the same."

"You'll have a driver," the general continued. "All five of you will proceed from Houston to Cisco. "

MacGregor's expression turned solemn. "We have evidence," he began slowly, "unconfirmed but pretty
impressive, that a small object that may be of extrasolar construction survived entry into the Earth's
atmosphere earlier this morning and came down in one piece somewhere in a circular region of 120
kilometers with Cisco at its center.

"You understand," he went on, both hands twirling a pencil back and forth, "the reason for total secrecy
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and for informing no one of this information."

"What about local sightings?" Chester asked.

"The same rotten weather that caused us to lose this thing over New Mexico has apparently helped us,
too. We've been monitoring everything from fifty-thousand-watt radio stations down to personal CBs in
the area. No one's reported seeing or hearing anything unusual.

"That might also mean that the damn thing's gone and burned up during final descent. In fact, the experts
tell me that's probably what happened. " He glanced up from the pencil, and his eyes were cold.
"Naturally, we can't take that chance.

"Given the suspected small size of the object, the weather, and the fact that people live pretty far apart
from each other up in that part of the country, it's just possible something could have set down intact
without anyone noticing it, even if it made a good-sized bang on impact.

"You'll take an unmarked station wagon from the Space Center. It'll hold the five of you and the
minimum amount of equipment the three scientists are being allowed."

"Not much room for instrumentation in the back of a wagon," Chester observed.

The general smiled. "From what I hear, this Goldberg and her friends would like about six