"Michael McCollum - Maker 2 - Procyion Promise" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

That was a Spanish galleon that sunk off Key West in the Sixteenth Century. They took sixty million
stellars worth of treasure out of her back in the thirties.”

Chryse shook her head. “I’m tired of simulated adventure.”

He smiled, turning on the boyish charm. “That’s the reason for the hulks. They are the real thing. We
could check out two vacsuits at North Pole Terminus and make a day long picnic of it if you like.”

She shook her head. The idea of exploring a twenty-year-old work barge did not appeal to her, but
Roland’s suggestion had tweaked a stray memory. There was something in solar orbit she would very
much like to explore.

“Do they rent ships at North Terminus, as well?”
“No need. The maneuvering gear on the vacsuits is first rate and well maintained. Oh, they’ll rent you a
scooter if you want, but that costs extra.”

“I don’t want a scooter. I want a ship! Something with legs.”

“It’s expensive.”

“I can afford it.”

He shrugged. “There are a few rental jobs at North Terminus. I’m a fair-to-middlin’ pilot. I’ll take you
anywhere you want to go.”

“No thank you. Where I want to go, I would rather be alone. Maybe a bit of solitude will snap me out of
this mood I’ve fallen into.”

“Solo piloting is dangerous.”

“I’ll be all right,” she said. “After all, the computer runs the ship. If I get into trouble, it’ll scream for help,
won’t it?”

He nodded. “Okay, it’s your neck. You’ll have to sign a release, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Where are you going?”

“I thought that I would go see the probe.”

#

Three hundred years earlier, a spacecraft had entered the solar system from the depths of interstellar
space. Limited two-way communications were established almost immediately, and it was quickly
learned that the craft was an instrument package controlled by a self-aware computer.

The computer, which called itselfPROBE, had been constructed by an advanced race of beings, that it
dubbed “The Makers.” These Makers had been working to develop a faster-than-light drive for their
spaceships for thousands of years. In all that vast time, they had been singularly unsuccessful. So, faced