"Richard Hatch - Battlestar Galactica 5 - Paradis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hatch Richard)

As if to reinforce the feeling that he was still in a dream, Athena said:
"We have good news for you, Baltar. When you're fully recovered, we have
a job for you. You're going to be a teacher."
 "It's a red sun," said President Tigh, peering into a scanner on the
bridge of the Galactica.

"An old sun," echoed Athena, checking out her monitor on the bridge of
the Daedelus.

The battlestars were having a conference call. They always did when
something was important. There was nothing more crucial than finding a
temporary home for the exhausted and damaged Fleet.

"One day I will write a poem dedicated to hydrogen," said Dr. Salik
wistfully, surrounded by his favorite scientific equipment.

Omegas, a bridge officer, exchanged glances with Rigel who took a
break from keeping track of the many ships converging on this quadrant
of space. Lately, the top science officer was behaving oddly. He wasn't as
boring as he used to be when he just did his job.

Tigh was in a poetic mood as well. "What do you mean, doctor?" he
prompted the older man.

Salik studied the screen showing the planet Paradis. The battlestars
were moving into parking orbits that matched the planet's period of
rotation. The period of analysis had begun, the fun part for the scientists.

Salik took advantage of his captive audience: "Paradis is a habitable
planet, with evolved life forms, but the odds are against that. You see,
when a star becomes a red giant, it swells up to many times its original
size and routinely devours any planets close to it. Before it swelled, the
planets closer in would have been in the habitable zone, and this planet
would have been too far from the star to be congenial to life. So it has only
become habitable since the sun entered its red giant phase, which means
that life evolved here quickly. Or, it evolved elsewhere and traveled here, or
was brought here, after the initial solar expansion."

"So what does this sun have to look forward to?" asked President Tigh.

Salik finished the impromptu lecture. "Impossible to say. Red giants
can be extremely stable and last for a half-billion years or more. Or, they
can go through cycles, shrinking down to the white dwarf stage, then
expanding again to the red giant. There can be many of these cycles before
the star ends its life. Given its size, I would say that it will end as a black
dwarf—cold and dark. However, it might be more energetic than that, and
end its life as a neutron star—impossibly dense and heavy."

"Let's not hang around for that," volunteered Troy, coming onto the
bridge of the Galactica.