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

planetary transport beams to intercept the planetoid about a hundred planetary radii
from collision with enough momentum to cause it to graze Martin’s atmosphere
instead of colliding directly. But it would be very, very close.
Something was trying to get her attention. Amongst the numbers and
trajectories, a signal light was flashing.
“Yes?”
“It’s Ned. I’m at the door. I thought I should deliver this news in person.”
That didn’t sound good. “Come in.”
One look at his face confirmed that he was the bearer of bad news.
“Liz, have you heard about David?”
She shook her head.
“He’s gone to the surface of Martin, making a human shield out of himself.”
“Oh ... crap! I’m sorry, I should have seen this coming. He’s never ... he...”
“I didn’t see it coming either.”
“I’ll need to talk to Cyan.”
 Ned nodded. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
As he left, Liz touched the net. Cyan, emergency, Cyan, we have a problem,
she sent. The lightspeed delay was maddening.
What, Liz? What is the matter?
David has gone human shield on us.
Wait.
Human shield?
He’s gone down to Martin in hopes that we’ll divert the beam projector to
save his life.
Wait.
You know him better than any of us, Liz. Can you talk him out of it?
I’ll do what I can. I’ll get absolutely nowhere talking on the radio. I’ll have
to do this in person.
Wait.
The momentum exchange mesh—the big net—is almost ready, Cyan said.
Hopefully we can spread the push over the entire area and hold the major pieces
together . If we use BHP projectors, we can load less ballast and launch it now,
then give it a major push.
No! Keep the project projectors on the impactor. We can’t risk screwing with
that. I’ll go down to Martin myself and try to bring David back.
Wait.
Liz, do you think that is wise? Much could go wrong.
Liz remembered how David had helped her stand up to DeRoot, how he’d
been at her side when things had seemed darkest, and all the wonderful, sweet
moments of lovemaking they’d shared.
Cyan, I owe him too much. I have to try. I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t.
Wait.
I understand. You will take several robots, of course, armed with
tranquilizer darts; I will authorize the exception to the Asimovian rules. I know you
will try to get his voluntary cooperation first, but time is short. And Liz, we’ve been
over David’s recent communications. Voice stress analysis, word patterns, and
other things. He doesn’t seem to be well.
 Chaos! What?
People still occasionally got brain tumors, Liz knew. They were quickly cured
when detected, but they had to be detected first. Then there was the stuff he was