"Harry Harrison - One Step From Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

There was a door nearby that opened onto a balcony and he went out to look over the city. He tamped
tobacco into his pipe but did not light it. There would be no smoking soon and he might as well begin to
get used to it. The air was fairly fresh at this height, but the smog and haze closed in below. Mile after
mile of buildings and streets stretched to the horizon, jammed, packed, and turbulent with people. It
could have been any city on Earth. They were all like this — or worse. He had come out throughCalcutta
and he still had nightmares about it.

"Mr. Duncan, come quickly, they are waiting for you."

The technician shifted from one foot to the other and wrung his hands worriedly, holding the door open
with his foot. Ben smiled at him, in no hurry, then handed over his pipe.

"Hold that until I get back, will you."

The dressers had almost finished with Otto by the time Ben appeared, and his own team rushed
forward. They pulled off his coverall, then dressed him from the skin out in layer after layer of protective
fabrics. Thermal underwear, a skintight silk cover over that, an electrically heated suit next, electric
socks. It was done quickly. Dr. Thurmond came in while their outer suits were being closed and looked
on approvingly.

"Leave the outer suit seals open until you get into the chamber," he said. "Let's go."

Like a mother hen with a parade of chicks, he led the way across the cluttered transmission room,
between the banks of instruments and under the high busbars. The technicians and engineers turned to
watch when they passed and there was even one cheer that was quickly stifled when Dr. Thurmond
looked coldly toward the man. Two dispatchers were waiting for them in the pressure chamber and they
closed and sealed the door behind Dr. Thurmond and the two heavily garbed men. They were beginning
to sweat. Dr. Thurmond pulled on a heavy coat as the cold air was pumped in.

"This is the final countdown," he said. "I'll repeat your instructions just one more time." Ben could have
recited them equally well but he remained silent. "We are now lowering the air temperature and pressure
until it matches the Martian atmosphere.Readings just taken there show the temperature at twenty
degrees below zero fahrenheit and holding steady. Air pressure is ten millimeters of mercury. We are
dropping to that pressure now. There is no measurable amount of oxygen in the air. Masks at all time,
that is never to be forgotten. We are breathing almost pure oxygen in this chamber, but you will put on
your masks before you leave...." He stopped and yawned and his ears popped, trying to equalize the
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pressure in his inner ear. "I will now go into the airlock."

He went and finished his lecture from there, watching them through the inset window. Ben ignored the
drone of his voice and Otto seemed too paralyzed to listen. A thermostat closed in the battery case in the
small of his back and Ben felt the heating elements grow warm inside his suit. The oxygen tank was slung
onto his back and his face mask with built-in goggles was buckled into place. He automatically bit onto
the oxygen tube and inhaled.