"Niven, Larry - Building Harlequin's Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

Wow. They'd be gone the rest of summer and most of fall, returning just a month before Mid-Winter Week. Maybe she could bring back a special story about the trip for Festival Day.
Packing took nearly an hour. Rachel added and subtracted from her pile, finally settling on just what had been included in the list.
She reviewed lessons about the various planting machines. Some were too small to see, simple, dropped onto the ground like dust. Others were so big they made a human look like a leaf. Huge unmanned flat tillers opened Selene's sterile regolith, turning it over and over and then scattering tiny short-lived machines that burrowed through dirt, releasing oxygen or mixed nutrients. Then they died, melting to carbon and air. A different set of tillers mixed in organics, sands, or clays. Spreaders followed last, scattering raw materials for cyanobacteria mats: thin shelves of nitrogen-fixing organisms that killed any trace of remaining nanotechnology.
Rachel remembered Gabriel telling her the first tasks of a terraformer, besides atmosphere and pressure, were water and soil.
Humans drove forty-foot-long manned "planters" that dug holes, made a specific soil for each plant, emplaced seedlings, and even tamped the soil down. People followed, checking work. Rachel expected to see the butt ends of planters for days.
A friendly scratch on the outside of the tent signaled that her father was home. She turned as he stepped inside.
He took off his hat and went to the sink, scrubbing oil and dirt from his hands. "I thought I'd never get the array working right again. I had to make a new gear; took me four hours. How did it go today?" He must have seen her face, because he stopped and shifted tone. "It did go well, didn't it?"
The words came out in a rush. She told him about the whole test, and the surprise ending to the day. "We leave tomorrow morning."
Frank didn't say anything for a long time, surprise, pride, and anger flashing across his face. "Of course you have to go. It's ... so fast. I thought you'd be home a few more years."
His face looked just like it had when they knew her mom wasn't coming back. Even after ten years, she remembered. She shivered. "I promise to come back," she said. "Surely it's safe."
"Ahhh, as safe as here, anyway. I'll be okay." He turned away and put on hot water. His voice was still strong. "The Councilman told me he might choose you, but I thought I had a few years still."
"You mean Gabriel knew I'd pass?"
"We all knew you would pass. They're picking leaders."
"Leaders?"
"Well, you see how many more kids there are here. Half of Aldrin's population is under twelve. Council needs people to plant more, tend what we've got, build new cities. Someone has to lead the ones that are young now. Your mom and I knew that when we had you." He busied himself at the stove. "I'm putting soup on."
"Good. Dad? What do you think about Andrew, and my tree?"
"I don't know. Trill Johnson got angry and hit his mother twice when I was a boy. I haven't seen him since. Probably he's just on the ship. I didn't ask. I never missed Trill. He was mean. Andrew's his nephew."
"He meant it as a joke," Rachel said. "It was cruel, but it didn't hurt anything."
Frank stirred the soup. The sharp tang of onions and spices filled the room. "Sometimes it's hard to tell what angers Council. You need to be careful. Dear, you only know Gabriel and Ali. Oh, you've met others, but never really worked with them." He leaned toward Rachel and smiled softly. "What do you know about Council?"
"They're making a world for us! I know they came from Earth, on John Glenn, and they made Selene, made it over so we can live here." She thought. "I know we're not where we were meant to be. They came here because they had starship trouble."
"They are powerful."
"Yes, but I like them, at least most of them. They're interesting. Something to figure out, like a mystery." She chewed her lip. "They keep secrets."
Frank smiled sadly. "Yes, they do. You know about the antimatter generator, of course."
"That's not a secret. Council needs fuel for John Glenn."
"So what are their goals?" he asked, serving her a bowl of soup.
"Plant Selene. Build a larger base for humans here—for us, for the people born here. Then the collider circles Selene. It makes their antimatter—"
"Their goal is to make the antimatter generator so they can leave us," he said. "Their goals aren't about us, not really."
Rachel's stomach dropped. "Leave?"
"That's what they plan." Frank looked at his bowl of soup, not catching Rachel's eyes.
"They can't go unless they take us with them. How would we live?"
"I don't know. They won't leave tomorrow, anyway." Frank was still looking down, and his voice was thick, edged with bitterness. "So go planting. You're almost grown, and I've taught you what I can. Just remember you were born here, like me, for them. We work for them." He got up and hugged her good night. "Be a good student. Keep your eyes and ears open. Do what you're told. Don't forget that. Maybe someday you'll be close enough to Council to learn more about them." His face softened. "After all, I would never call Gabriel 'Gabe.' "
"I'll remember."
Rachel washed the dishes and got ready for bed herself.
Sleep came slowly. Her mind turned the day's surprises over and over. Excitement about leaving, seeing places she'd only heard about, worry that her dad would be lonely. The idea of being a leader. Most of all, the idea of Council leaving. Leaving! Where would she and her dad get spices, and thread, and how would she learn new things?
The next morning, she woke ragged and tired. Her dad flew Rachel and Ursula up to the grove, smiling the whole way, as if his cautions of the night before had never been voiced. He handed both girls' bags to Ali. "Take care of them." He kissed the top of Rachel's head. He had to stand on tiptoe to do it, and she threw her arms around him, squeezing tight before he pulled free and turned away.
A small flying plane waited in the meadow, and Rachel and Ursula climbed in the back next to Harry, who smiled at them but didn't say anything. They rose up higher than the tops of the First Trees, circled, and accelerated away.




Chapter 3: Planting


Rachel shielded her eyes from the sun and looked over at Gabriel. He drove sixty yards away, a small figure atop a twin of the huge planter she controlled. They shared communication links, but the whine and chatter of the machines made hand signals work better.
Gabriel held up one finger, and she waved acknowledgment. Rachel settled the planter so that the control target matched the laser display overlaid on her retina. It was like looking at lines on top of pictures, both in front of the real world. It made her head hurt. She punched a series of commands, and then settled into her scat, reaching for a water bottle. Sweat poured down her brow and trickled down the back of her neck. They had been working since dawn. She needed a break.
The planter hummed and vibrated, rocking as it pulled soil up into the analyzer. Rachel watched displays identify the mineral content of the sample. The machine rumbled, stirring nutrients and measuring pods into the regolith and compost mixture with huge metal paddles. Finished soil dropped into a cone-shaped pile next to a hole. The whole process took about five minutes.
Rachel nudged her planter fifty yards past the waiting hole and shut it down, ears ringing in the sudden silence. As she clambered down the ladder on the side, she looked over her shoulder at Ursula and called, "Lunch after this planting."
The planters frightened Ursula. So Rachel rode and Ursula followed, doing the stooping and planting and watering. This was the last week of this season's planting, and even working into the steadily duskier nights, they were ten percent behind their goal, muscles tired and sore from the extra work.
Harry and Gabriel were already seated when Rachel joined them, choosing a rocky perch where she could look back across the field at the other ten teams. They were all Earth Born. Earth Born were shorter, wider, brawnier than Moon Born. She watched in silence, drinking water and letting a soft breeze cool her.
"Your shadow is always slower than you are," Harry said.