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

“Good morning, Liz. What’s happened?”
Liz unloaded. “I don’t know what to do next,” she concluded.
Hilda appeared thoughtful. “Look, Dr. Sarah Levine has changed her mind
about going to Lacaille 9352 to work on the fabrication and the launch of its
impactor for the BHP. You’re used to command and an expert in space resources.
Interested?”
Liz caught her breath in the thrill of the offer. Eleven light years away, at a
start-up interstellar colony, she would likely have a major role. Then she hesitated.
“Hilda, I don’t work for people very well. I’m, well, kind of bullheaded.”
Her older sister smiled knowingly, but instead replied, “You’ve led four
expeditions since you got into Earth’s Solar System, all successful.”
“Well, yes, but when I do an expedition, it’s my show.”
Hilda looked pointedly into the camera. “That’s what I’m going to
recommend.”
Liz opened her mouth and couldn’t close it. In charge of the whole show? No
boss, no politics? Eleven light years from Earth with nothing to do but make it
happen? She looked at her sister, excited, almost breathless. “You’re kidding ...
You’re not kidding. You think I’d have a shot?”
Hilda laughed. “That bullheadedness, along with your ability to improvise, is
probably just what we need. There’s a man out there named Gunheim, former PM of
Queensland, given to grandiose schemes. He’ll probably be in local politics out
there, and if he starts interfering, it will take a strong will to stand up to him. We’ve
got a planning meeting in a few minutes, so I’ve got to go. Should I ask Tse Wen?”
Liz caught her breath. The responsibility would be huge; a monstrous
projectile of precisely the right mass would have to leave Lacaille 9352 at just the
right time and reach just the right velocity to meet the three other projectiles with
nanosecond precision at the experiment vertex. A small pond, yes. But she would be
the big fish in it. That excited her. And making the Black Hole Project happen would
be an exquisite revenge on that arrogant, disingenuous bastard, Dr. DeRoot. But...
“Hilda, we haven’t had much time together.”
“I know. But I may be heading out myself. Dad’s headed back to New
Antarctica; he and I have some issues to put behind us. The project needs a local
lead. There are other political problems, though. Sis, we have all eternity ahead of us.
Let’s get together at New Antarctica when it’s done. Maybe mom will come.”
Liz grinned. “Now that would be interesting. Okay, I’m in. If Tse Wen wants
me, I’m ready.”
She signed off and touched the net. Any starships headed for Lacaille 9352
in the next year?
The C.E. Singer, Peter DeRoot commanding. It would leave Venus
Equilateral in eight months.
DeRoot? Any relation to the Director?
Brothers.
Probably irrelevant, Liz thought, but just bad luck if not. The Singer was her
only choice. She stored the information and turned to her apartment window. Gold
and pink clouds floated in the sky beyond the Ploshchad Ostrovskovo. She looked
to the northwest, toward the lands of the Vikings and of Nansen and Amundsen.
There was so much she hadn’t taken time to see.
****
Chapter 2
 Between Sol and Lacaille 9352,