"C. Sanford Lowe & G. David Nordley - The Small Pond" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lowe C Sanford)

thirty seconds for maximum effect. She felt her muscles quiver in preparation.
“So you think you’re going to play with the universe, do you?”
This wasn’t going to be easy. Okay, she thought. She’d never get to Peal
before the robot got to her, take the robot first. She allowed it to close the distance.
Then, with a scream, she snapped her arms outward as hard as she could and fell
back against the barrier. The handcuffs cracked open and the line holding them
together pulled out of the right one. The pain was blinding but somehow detached
from her. The robot snapped toward her almost faster than could be seen, but her
right leg was already up to meet it. Her heel hit right in its mechanical pelvis, and she
felt searing pain as something snapped in her leg. Damn, Hilda, I tried. I really tried,
she thought.
But in a second she realized she wasn’t done yet. The robot had rebounded
from the collision and was sailing across the room in the low gravity. Before it could
bounce and get back, she launched herself at the startled Peal, ignoring the pain in
her leg.
No time for fancy stuff. Her balled fist caught him squarely in the jaw, going
through it as if it were balsa. Her momentum crashed them both into the mini galley
at the end of the room, a coffee pot bouncing away, spewing hot liquid all over. The
impact knocked the breath out of her. Already she was beginning to feel lightheaded
and tired; but the robot would be back for her. She whirled Peal’s limp body around
to put him between her and the robot.
The machine crashed into them and bounced away, inanimate.
Dead man switch? A look at what was left of Peal’s head told the story. There
was gray matter on her fist. She shook it off automatically, revulsed.
Boost and adrenaline spent, the pain from a broken leg and broken wrist hit
her hard. She felt nauseated, and fainted. The last thing she remembered was the
smell of spilled coffee.
****
When Liz regained consciousness a week later, her wounds were healed, she
was a hero and Cyan Mutori was the new chief executive of the Campbell system.
Roger Gunheim had left the Campbell system with DeRoot and some of their
cronies, bound for the BHP vertex to see the implosion, and then onto a new colony
at Stein 2051, twenty-five light years distant.
****
Chapter 5
In Space, at the Impactor Launch Site, 26 October 2275
The impactor looked like a long thin filament that seemed to run out to infinity.
At high magnification, David could see a slight texture to it; individually controlled
superconducting solenoid rings were placed every few meters to stretch the wire taut
to just the right tension, giving it some rigidity for maneuvers and providing a fine
control on its density. Somewhere, out there toward the end of the rod, was the main
magnetic reflector. Any time now, David thought.
Cyan’s term as chief executive had begun well. The impactor launch was back
on schedule, albeit with the smallest of windows. No more delays could be tolerated,
but so far, so good. He, Judi, Cyan, and Liz took a shuttle out to the launch site, a
point, high over the asteroid belt, where the impactor coasted, waiting for the main
beam. While far from the revelry, they had all wanted to, well, be there.
David wondered when they would see it light up.
As if on queue, Liz announced, “About now.”
At the far distant end of the impactor, a tiny blue star appeared and gradually