"Jack Williamson - The Ultimate Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williamson Jack)

His main concern was clearly the station itself. He cleared
junk and debris out of the deepest tunnels, which had been
used for workshops and storage, and stocked them again with
new tools and spare parts that the robots could use to repair
themselves and maintain the station.
Most of his time on the visits was spent in the library and
museum with Dian and her holo mother. He studied the old
books and holos and paintings and sculptures, carried them
away to be restored, and brought identical copies back to
replace them. For a time he had the digging machines busy
again, removing rubble from around the station and grinding
it up to make concrete for a massive new retaining wall that
they poured to reinforce the station foundation.
For our twenty-first birthday, he had the robots measure
us for space suits like his own. Sleek and mirror-bright, they
fitted like our skins and let us feel at home outside the dome.
We wore them down to see one of our old rocket spaceplanes,
standing on the field beside his little slipship. His robots had


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 The Ultimate Earth
by Jack Williamson


dug it out of a smashed hangar, and he now had them
rebuilding it with new parts from Earth.
One of the great digging machines had extended a
leverlike arm to hold it upright. A robot was replacing a
broken landing strut, fusing it smoothly in place with some
process that made no glow of heat. Casey spoke to the robot,
but it ignored him. He climbed up to knock on the door. It
responded with a brittle computer voice that was only a rattle
in our helmets.
“Open up,” he told it. “Let us in.”
“Admission denied.” Its hard machine voice had Pen’s
accent.
“By what authority?”
“By the authority of Director Sandor Pen, Lunar Research
Site.”
“Ask the director to let us in.”
“Admission denied.”
“So you think.” Casey shook his head, his words a sardonic
whisper in my helmet. “If you know how to think.”
Back inside the air lock, Pen had waited to help us shuck
off the mirror suits. Casey thanked him for the gift and asked
if the old spaceplane would be left here on the Moon.
“Forget what you’re thinking.” He gave Casey a
penetrating glance. “We’re taking it down to Earth.”
“I wish I could come.”