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

own radio relay setup, he hoped.
“Hello. I’m David Levi. I have some samples to go to the lab.”
“Mr. Levi. Please do not enter the shuttle; you are not authorized. I have
notified Captain Avonford of your presence.”
“David!” Liz screamed. “I thought you were at the camp. What are you doing
at the shuttle?”
“I changed my mind,” he said, using the radio channel from his suit. He took
two more steps closer to the shuttle, reaching the right landing gear. “I really wanted
to see you again, Liz.”
He turned away from the shuttle, triggered the switch and set the sample case
down as carefully as he could. He started running toward Liz, not daring to look
back. Five ... four ... three ... two ... one...
The blast wave almost knocked him over. Now he looked back and watched
the shuttle topple to the ground. Back to square one, he thought. He turned back
toward Liz and stood motionless, trying to figure out what to say. She would
probably be upset.
A sudden sting in his arm told him just how upset.
****
Liz had skimmed along the regolith toward David, wanting to believe him,
wanting to get him and get out of here. But she’d been deceived. Should have had
the robots tranquilize him earlier, she thought. But she’d held back. Maybe there was
an explanation that made sense. Once he was in her arms again, surely he would
listen to reason. He had run toward her; she could see the light on his helmet bob up
and down with each long stride. Surely they could still sort things out.
The blast took her totally by surprise, and she watched in horror as the shuttle
toppled to the ground. There was no second explosion, and its navigation lights
stayed on. The port light created a pool of red on the lava and showed the crumpled
side of the vehicle in high relief.
Liz brought herself to a halt. Take him down, she sent to the hovering robots.
Talk about closing the barn door after the horse escaped.
Liz, Ned. Are you okay?
I’m fine. He got the shuttle before I got him. Can you get another one down
here?
We’ll have to try, won’t we? The port manager and I’ve got it in works, but
it looks like an hour to fuel and check out and four hours—make that four point
three—down to the surface where you are. That’s collision time, I’m afraid.
Her heart skipped a beat and a knot suddenly tightened in her gut. Chaos, try
to shave ten minutes off that somewhere, will you?
I’ll try my best. Do you want me to tell Cyan?
So it’s down to this, Liz thought. What would Cyan Mutori do? A word from
her now, and the full power of the beam could be thrown against the planetoid,
possibly breaking it up, possibly pushing it away. But that diversion would also
throw the impactor off profile, perhaps irretrievably so. Damn Peal! There was no
margin, none.
Not just yet. See where you get on the spare shuttle.
Are you sure, Liz?
It could mean the difference between probably living and probably dying, for
both her and David. But it could also be the difference between carrying out her
mission with certainty and leaving humanity’s greatest project to chance. She’d
wanted to be the big fish in the small pond, to have the big decisions. Well, this was