"James Van Pelt - Of Late I Dreamt of Venus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pelt James Van)

“Beta should strike . . . now.”
A second convulsion colored the disk, this one a brilliant white at
its center which settled into a deep red, overlapping the first burst’s
color. A third flash, duller, erupted on the globe.
“Was that . . . ?”
“Perfect as your money could buy.”
In the next ten minutes, four more hits. Elizabeth stood at the
window while red and orange storms pulsed in Venus’ disk. Henry
joined her, mirroring her stance. He pursed his lips. “You can see the
dust. If this had been Earth, the dinosaurs would have died seven times.”
The planet’s silver sheen faded somewhat, and lightning flashes
flickered in the roiling confusion.
“No dinosaurs ever walked there, Henry.”
He sighed. “Venus has its own charms, or it did.”
Elizabeth looked at him. The reflected light from the window
caught in his dark eyes. They were the best part of him, the way they
looked at her when he didn’t think she noticed. Sometimes she wished
she could just fall in love with his eyes, but then she saw the scar, and he
really was too short and so young, ten years shy of her forty, practically a
child, although a brilliant and efficient one. She’d ask the surgeon on her
own. Henry would hardly object to a few cosmetic changes while he
slept. What else was there to do during the down time anyway except to



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improve? She had been considering thinning her waist a bit, toning her
back muscles.
Henry clopped back to his station, then studied figures on a screen
she couldn’t see. “There are seismic irregularities, as predicted, making
the final calculations more difficult, but the planet is spinning slightly
faster now, just a bit. We’ve also pushed it out of its orbit a bit. The next
series will bump it back. You’re one step closer to your new Earth.”
She turned from him, irritated. “If Venus only becomes another
Earth, I failed. We can make it better. A planet to be truly proud of.
How are things on Earth, anyway?”
His fingers flicked over the controls. “In the twenty-seven years we
slept, your corporation in the asteroid belt has tripled in size, improving
the ability to redirect asteroids above projections. We’re two years ahead
of schedule there. The Kuiper Belt initiative is also ahead of schedule.”
He reread a section. “We’re having trouble with the comet deflection
plan. Lots of support for redirecting the Earth-crossing asteroids, but
opposition to the comets. Some groups contest our aiming them all at
Venus. There’s a lobby defending Halley’s Comet for its ‘historical and
traditional values,’ as well as several groups who argue that ‘comets
possess a lasting mythic and aesthetic relation with the people of Earth.’
The political wing of the advertising and public relations departments is