"Alan E. Nourse - Rocket to Limbo" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nourse Alan E)

care and devotion; years had been spent outfitting her for the brave journey she was now
daring to make. The finest engineers on Earth had designed her to carry the growth tanks
and fuel blocks, the oxygen and reprocessing equipment, the libraries and information
banks that her crew would require during the long voyage. Her massive engines had •been
tested and retested to tolerances never before achieved on Earth.
They had to be, for these engines must not fail.
The ship's name was carved on the bronze plaque, and the names of the men and
women of her crew. Below this the dates were written:
Launched: March 3, 2008 Returned:
There was no way of knowing when she would return, if she ever did return. There had
never been a ship like the
6 ROCKET TO LIMBO
Argonaut before. This was no clumsy orbit-craft to carry colonists and miners to the
outpost stations on Mars and Venus. The Argonaut was a Star Ship, designed for one
purpose-to carry her crew across the black gulf of space between the stars. Her destination
was Alpha Centauri; her voyage might take centuries to complete.
None of the crew who launched her would live to make landfall at her destination-they
knew that. But their children, or perhaps their children's children might survive to send the
ship blasting homeward again.
The Argonaut was bound on the Long Passage.
Up on the scaffolding surrounding the ship, lights were shining, men were moving
quickly up and down as last-minute preparations were completed. The gantry crane crept up
and down, up and down, loading aboard the final crates of supplies. For weeks the giant
nuclear engines had been warming, preparing for the sudden demand of power to thrust the
ship away from Earth's gravity. A chronometer clicked off the dwindling minutes. Gradually
the scaffolding cleared of men; the crane at last came down and stayed, its lights blinking
out.
High up on the hull a pressure door swung slowly shut, sealing the silvery skin of the
great ship.
Around it, well beyond the range of blast gases, crowds of people stood waiting silently,
thinking in their hearts what they could not put into words. Across the land eyes were turned
upward, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of the ship as she streaked up through the quiet
sky. Others saw it on silvery screens, or listened to the excited voice of the 3-V announcer.
One thing was certain-the eyes of Earth were on the Argonaut, a crowded, war-weary,
overpopulated, hungry Earth. The people knew the hope that lay behind the voyage: that the
Argonaut would find a place where Earthmen could settle, could build homes and colonies,
and so relieve the terrific press of people on their own crowded planet.
ROCKET TO LIMBO 7
But there was another reason too for the voyage. The stars were a challenge that Man
had to answer sometime. The time had come at last.
A young woman of twenty stood in the crowd, watching the ship with sad eyes. Her
husband placed his arm around her shoulder and drew her closer to him.
"How are you doing?" he asked.
She shivered. "I'm scared."
"So am I. Everyone's scared, in a way. It means so much, and it's so frightening and yet
so wonderful, too-you know?"
She nodded and clung closer. Her father was the first officer of the Argonaut. She knew
she would never see him again, and she knew that he would never set foot on land again.
The trip would take too long. His life was the ship now, and the ship was his life and
responsibility, the ship and the children who would be born aboard it.