"Smith, E E Doc - Subspace 01 - Subspace Explorers V2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

help."

"I've learned scarcely anything yet; only that when we approach any planet we must do
so with extreme-I might almost say fantastic-precautions."

"Blasting at normal, it'll be a mighty long time before we have to worry about that."

"Not as long as you think, Babe," Jones said. "We're in toward the center of the galaxy
somewhere; stars are a lot thicker here. It's only about a third of a light-year to the
nearest one. Point three five, I make it."

"But what's the chance of its having a Tellus-Type planet?"

"Oh, that isn't necessary," Adams said. "Any planet will, it is virtually certain, enable us to
restore subspace communication.

"It'll still be a mighty long haul," Deston said. "The shape the engines are in, I doubt if
they'll stand up under more than about one gee on a long pull. We can't do much better
than that anyway, because we've got no grav-control-the Q-converters are all shot and
we can't fix 'em."

"We'll travel at one gravity," Barbara said. "Babies; remember?"

"I'll figure it that way," Deston said, and went to work with his slide-rule. A few minutes
later he reported, "Neglecting the Einstein Effect, which is altogether too hairy for a
slipstick, I make it about fourteen months. But since velocity at turnover will be crowding
six tenths of a light, that neglect makes it just a guess."

"We'll compute it tomorrow morning," Jones said. "For your information, all, we're
beading for that star now."

Chapter 2
THE ZETA FIELD

The tremendous Chaytor engines of the Procyon were again putting out their wonted
torrents of power. The starship, now a mere spaceship, was on course at one gravity.
The lifecraft were in their berths, but the five and the four still lived in them rather than in
the vast and oppressive emptiness that the liner then was. And outside of working hours
the two groups did not mix.

In Lifecraft Three, four men sat at two tables. Ferdy Blaine and Moose Mordan were
playing cards for small stakes. Ferdy was of medium size, lithe and poised, built of
rawhide and spring steel. Moose the Muscle was six feet five and weighed a good two
sixty. The two at the other table had been planning for days. They had had many vitriolic
arguments, but neither had made any motion toward his weapon.

"Play it my way and we've got it made, I tell you!" Newman pounded the table with his
fist. "Seventy five megabucks if it's a dime! Heavier loot than your second-string
syndicate ever even thought of in one haul! I'm almost as good an astrogator as Jones is
and a better engineer, and at practical electronics I'm just as good as Pretty Boy Deston