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

“Shawcroft. He’s a bio-ecopoiesis engineer. Good man. He helped
design an algae that grows on the underside of the aerostats for oxygen
production. The surface is still too warm for biologicals.”
Elizabeth tasted the omelet. The food made her stomach uneasy,
and didn’t look as appetizing as she hoped. “What’s he doing serving me
breakfast then?”
Henry laughed. “To see you, of course. You’re the Elizabeth
Audrey, asleep for two hundred years, but still pulling the strings. His
career exists because of your investments. He won a lottery among the
crew to bring out the tray.”
“What about you? He acted like he knew you.”
Uncovering his plate, Henry revealed a pancake under a layer of
strawberries. “I’ve been awake for four years. He and I play handball
almost every day.”
Elizabeth chewed a small bite thoughtfully. Henry’s face did look
older.
“What did you think of my gift?”
Henry touched the side of his face between his eye and ear.
Without smiling he said, “For a couple of years I was mad as hell. I’m
sorry you reminded me.” His fork separated a strawberry and chunk of
pancake from the rest.
Elizabeth tried to meet his eyes. He couldn’t be seriously angry.
Without the scar, he looked much better.
He put the fork down, the bite uneaten. “Are you ready for a visit



6
 Of Late I Dreamt of Venus


to Laputa? You can check the facilities, and they would be honored if
you came down.”
“Laputa?” She relaxed in the remembering, not realizing until then
that she’d been tense. After two hundred years, so much could have
changed. When she let the doctor hook her to the complicated devices,
she had thought about unstable governments, about unplanned celestial
events, about changes in corporate policy. Who could guarantee that
she’d wake up in the world she’d designed? This was the great leap of
faith she’d made when she started the project. The plan for her to see it
to the end would be to outlive everyone around her, and the way to do
that was to be the test subject for the long sleep. Henry, for obvious
reasons, accompanied her. “You really named the workstation that?”
“A city now. Much more than a station. The name was in your
notes. I don’t think Jonathan Swift imagined it this way, though.” He
pushed his plate away. “It’s quite a bit bigger than the initial designs.
The more functions we built in, the more cubic feet of air we needed to
keep from sinking into the hotter regions of the atmosphere. It’s the
largest completely man-made structure in the solar system. Tourist
traffic alone makes it profitable.”