"Stephen Goldin - Herds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

Although it was faintly conceivable that some sort of life might
exist there, it did not bother him. He continued to spread his net
outward.

Another planet. He was glad to find a second, because the
three points that he now had—sun and two planets —would
determine for him the ecliptic plane of the system. It had long
since been discovered that planetary systems formed generally
within a single plane, with only minor individual deviations from
it. Now that he knew its orientation, he could stop his
three-dimensional expansion and concentrate, instead, on
exploring all the area within the ecliptic plane.

The second planet was also a disappointment. It was within
the zone of habitability, but that was the only thing that could be
said in its favor. The atmosphere was covered with clouds and
filled with carbon dioxide, while the surface was so incredibly
hot that oceans of aluminum and rivers of tin were
commonplace. No protoplasmic life could exist here, either.
Garnna continued on in his Exploration.

The next thing he encountered was a bit of a surprise—a
double planet. Two large, planet-sized objects circled the star in
a common orbit. Upon closer inspection, one of the planets
appeared far more massive than the other; Garnna began to
think of that one as the primary and the other as a satellite.

He tried to focus as much attention as he could on this system
while still maintaining the net he had spread through space. The
satellite was another airless gray ball, smaller even than the first
planet outward, and appeared quite lifeless, but the primary
looked promising. From space it had a mottled blue and white
appearance. The white was clouds and the blue, apparently, was
liquid water. Large quantities of liquid water. That boded well
for the existence of protoplasmic life there. He checked the
atmosphere and was even more pleasantly surprised. There were
large quantities of oxygen freely available for breathing. He
made himself a mental note to investigate it more closely if
nothing even better should turn up, and continued expanding
outwards in his search for planets.

The next one he discovered was small and red. What little
atmosphere there was seemed to consist mainly of carbon
dioxide, with almost no detectable free oxygen. The surface
temperature was acceptable to protoplasmic life, but there
seemed to be little, if any, water available —a very dismal sign.
Though this place had possibilities, the primary of the double
planet had more. Garnna continued his expansion.

The net was becoming very thin, now, as the Zartic stretched