"Williamson-DarkStarOne" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williamson Jack)

few hundred meters ahead, a cliff had risen between the frost and the midnight
sky, a sheer wall of dark ice a dozen meters high. It ran straight to right and
left as far as he could see.

"Madre de Dios!" he breathed. "!Que es?"

"Another geologic fault. Andersen says we're in a zone of quakes."

"Can we climb it?"

"Look just above it. We may not want to climb it."

He looked and saw nothing till a hot red point exploded like a nova deep inside
the ice. It swelled into a burning disk of rainbow circles that made a target
pattern as tall as the cliff. He saw no change for another half minute. Then a
darkness spread from the center till all the color was gone.

"A word from the locals." Cruzet's sharp ironic voice crackled out of the
interphone. "Welcome, stranger? Or is it scram? Scram while you can?" Two

Calling the ship, he waited for la rubia's voice. For a long time all he heard
was the faint rush and murmur of the galaxy's distant heart. When at last he
heard a voice, it wasn't hers.

". . . garbled . . . signal garbled . . . please repeat . . ."

"Scout calling." He tried again. "Reporting a wall of ice --"

"Carlos?" Glengarth's voice, suddenly stronger, edged with sharp concern.
"What's happening?"

"A wall of ice across our path, senor. Muy alto. El Doctor Cruzet is backing us
away."

"Take no chances --"

"Something else, Senor. Mas extrano. A bright light burning in the ice --"

"Can you describe it?"

"Circulos, senor. Circles of light that grow from the center like ripples on
water till they show every color del arco iris. Though I think they cease now as
we move away."

"Strange." Glengarth paused, perhaps not wanting to believe. "Did you see a
cause?"

"No, Senor, except that it appeared as we came near. El Doctor Cruzet thinks
perhaps it is intended as a signal."