"Michael McCollum - Thunderstrike" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

asteroid. Soon they were making their way toward the horizon in a series of giant bounds. After a few
hundred meters, the large Mylar covered panels of the solar furnace began to rise above the horizon.
Thorpe shouted a warning to Nina to adjust her faceplate glare shields, and then did the same just as the
sun rose above the horizon. The two paused long enough to let their eyes adjust before moving on.

Off to their left, Thorpe could see the warning beacons that stretched in a line around The Acorn’s
Cap. That end of the asteroid was still “hot” from the nuclear cauldron that had operated there. The
annihilation reaction had boiled a million tons of The Rock’s substance into space. It would be a more
than a century before the area around the thrust chamber would be cool enough for mining. Even then, it
was doubtful that the metal would be needed.

Thorpe leaned back and gazed up at three large conical shapes that were taking shape overhead. These
ore bodies were The Rock’s delivery system for refined metal. Constructed of vacuum foamed iron,
each OB had a specific gravity less than one. When dropped into the Earth’s atmosphere, they quickly
slowed to a few hundred kilometers per hour. At the end of their long dive, they splashed down into an
ocean and then bobbed to the surface.

“The schedule says they’ll be hoisting a billet in a few minutes,” Nina’s voice said as it echoed in
Thorpe’s earphones. “Care to watch?”

“Sure. We’ll see how that new lift supervisor handles his crew.”

Thorpe led Nina along the guide cable for another quarter-kilometer. As they bounded along, a series of
three towers slowly rose above the horizon. They had the appearance of old-style launch gantries. As
they approached more closely, they could see a thick plate of grey metal lying on the ground at the center
of the triangle formed by the towers.

The towers were The Rock’s elevator cum launch pad. Cables ran up the outside of each gantry, looped
over the top, then back down to where they were attached to the corners of a hexagonal metal billet.
During launch, the cables were reeled in by electric winches, causing the plate to accelerate skyward as it
rose up the towers. When it reached the top, the winches would be declutched. The plate would
continue upward at a speed well above local escape velocity. The billet would rise until it approached
the hovering reentry vehicles. Brakes would then be applied to slow the unreeling cables. If properly
done, the nickel-iron billet would come to a halt just as it reached the working level two kilometers
overhead.

As the two observers watched, the heavy nickel-iron plate began to levitate. It rapidly gained velocity. In
a matter of seconds, it was floating skyward, unimpeded by the trailing cables. Thorpe watched until it
had dwindled almost to invisibility. He was about to turn away when something happened. The plate,
which had maintained absolute stability during its long climb, suddenly began to tumble.

“What’s the matter?” Nina asked, her fear evident in her voice.

“One of the cables has snapped!” Thorpe yelled as he craned his neck to look skyward. He caught a
glimpse of a descending snake-like shape, shouted a warning, and turned to run. The next thing he felt
was a searing pain in his right leg. His scream dwindled to inaudibility in less than a second as his suit
was enveloped in a cloud of red fog.


CHAPTER 2