[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
six-sided platform in the next few hours," the commander mused.
"Or sink. A chance, certainly. It would not be a reliable prediction."
"What would that do to available landing space?"
"That is already decreasing, assuming a two-hundred-meter landing slide. If
these faults extend straight to the surface it will be necessary to land
farther to the north or south than before, if we continue to use east and west
approaches. Any other run direction would have to be farther from the lake."
"And from the commander?" "Yes."
"Hear that, Maria?"
"Of course I heard it. I'm hurrying. I still think it's important to get a
good look at Arthur's Pool."
"Do it from the air! Get out of that crater as fast as you can Commander!"
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"As long as I'm heading near it anyway, let's not argue. I assume, Status,
that the tunnel is no longer of primary importance. How about the general plan
to move to the surface?"
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"That will have to be dropped until a new settlement site is found. The crater
is now unsuitable."
"And Arthur's uh experiment wasted?" asked Ginger.
is
"Not necessarily. The area is supplied with labs, and we can keep track of
what happens there unless it and they are all destroyed. Even that could be
informative."
"Then I should land as close as possible to that spot."
"Not until I get there and tell you to!" snapped Maria. "The jet is less
expendable than I am right now;
you know it."
"I know it, but I don't believe it. Are you able to see any better yet?"
"A little. And you believe it, all right; you just don't like it. I'm having
to move more slowly, though; the knees of this suit are getting stiff. I
suppose no one can see me yet; I must be pretty well covered with this stuff,
and there still aren't any bare spots I could stand on for contrast."
"I'll come back and make another pass. You should be getting out of that cloud
by this time. There I'm heading where you ought to be. Can you hear me?"
"Not yet. Where are you?"
"Just crossing the south rim, inbound," answered
Ginger. "Half a minute should bring me about over you.
I'm at standard."
The commander waited briefly. She heard the jet in a few seconds, looked up in
the hope of seeing it, and just barely succeeded.
"You're a couple of hundred meters off. I'm to your right
now!"
"You haven't held course, Maria. How about using the wind? It's still from the
west, and I can see the stuff blowing."
"Too turbulent to be useful this close to the ground. I'd thought of that.
Getting knocked off my feet, and
I suppose picking up more covering, every few minutes doesn't help."
"You know where she is. Pick her up now!" cried Belvew.
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"Stop thinking of that!" Maria had never sounded so much like a commander.
"Make another pass over me, or as nearly over me as you can, Ginger, heading
as straight as you can for Arthur's Pool. You can still see it, can't you?"
"Sure. All right, coming back. Call when I'm closest, and tell me which side
you're on and how far if you can. I'll be a minute or so with the turn. All
right?"
Silence.
"All right?"
Silence.
"All right?"
Maria couldn't answer. She was off the ground again, totally disoriented. She
snapped both hands above her helmet to protect it in case she landed head
downward, and ignored Ginger's increasingly frantic calls until she struck the
surface again.
Her heels touched first, with her body extending back and up at about
forty-five degrees. On Earth she would have slammed down on the back of her
helmet; on Titan the rest of the fall took well over a second and she had
plenty of time to spin cat-style and land on her hands. A medium-hard
one-handed push-up brought her back on her feet; she felt a fleeting glow of
pride that she hadn't overdone it
much. One short backward step kept her from falling the other way.
"I'm all right. I got tossed around by another quake. I don't know whether you
passed me then or not."
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"I must have. I'm halfway to the rim Maria! My screen shows a new cloud
erupting all around the lake! Is it blocking your sight?" "The eight-hour
prediction was extremely inaccurate," Status interrupted, "but the qualitative
extrapolation offered by Sergeant
Belvew was very good. The lake is now near the north rim of a hexagonal area
well marked by fume-
emitting faults. It will take a minute or more to determine the new height of
the area. The lake itself has shown no significant change in shape or area. If
Major Xalco will try once more to find the commander
" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
six-sided platform in the next few hours," the commander mused.
"Or sink. A chance, certainly. It would not be a reliable prediction."
"What would that do to available landing space?"
"That is already decreasing, assuming a two-hundred-meter landing slide. If
these faults extend straight to the surface it will be necessary to land
farther to the north or south than before, if we continue to use east and west
approaches. Any other run direction would have to be farther from the lake."
"And from the commander?" "Yes."
"Hear that, Maria?"
"Of course I heard it. I'm hurrying. I still think it's important to get a
good look at Arthur's Pool."
"Do it from the air! Get out of that crater as fast as you can Commander!"
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"As long as I'm heading near it anyway, let's not argue. I assume, Status,
that the tunnel is no longer of primary importance. How about the general plan
to move to the surface?"
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"That will have to be dropped until a new settlement site is found. The crater
is now unsuitable."
"And Arthur's uh experiment wasted?" asked Ginger.
is
"Not necessarily. The area is supplied with labs, and we can keep track of
what happens there unless it and they are all destroyed. Even that could be
informative."
"Then I should land as close as possible to that spot."
"Not until I get there and tell you to!" snapped Maria. "The jet is less
expendable than I am right now;
you know it."
"I know it, but I don't believe it. Are you able to see any better yet?"
"A little. And you believe it, all right; you just don't like it. I'm having
to move more slowly, though; the knees of this suit are getting stiff. I
suppose no one can see me yet; I must be pretty well covered with this stuff,
and there still aren't any bare spots I could stand on for contrast."
"I'll come back and make another pass. You should be getting out of that cloud
by this time. There I'm heading where you ought to be. Can you hear me?"
"Not yet. Where are you?"
"Just crossing the south rim, inbound," answered
Ginger. "Half a minute should bring me about over you.
I'm at standard."
The commander waited briefly. She heard the jet in a few seconds, looked up in
the hope of seeing it, and just barely succeeded.
"You're a couple of hundred meters off. I'm to your right
now!"
"You haven't held course, Maria. How about using the wind? It's still from the
west, and I can see the stuff blowing."
"Too turbulent to be useful this close to the ground. I'd thought of that.
Getting knocked off my feet, and
I suppose picking up more covering, every few minutes doesn't help."
"You know where she is. Pick her up now!" cried Belvew.
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174)23-12-2006 20:54:35
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"Stop thinking of that!" Maria had never sounded so much like a commander.
"Make another pass over me, or as nearly over me as you can, Ginger, heading
as straight as you can for Arthur's Pool. You can still see it, can't you?"
"Sure. All right, coming back. Call when I'm closest, and tell me which side
you're on and how far if you can. I'll be a minute or so with the turn. All
right?"
Silence.
"All right?"
Silence.
"All right?"
Maria couldn't answer. She was off the ground again, totally disoriented. She
snapped both hands above her helmet to protect it in case she landed head
downward, and ignored Ginger's increasingly frantic calls until she struck the
surface again.
Her heels touched first, with her body extending back and up at about
forty-five degrees. On Earth she would have slammed down on the back of her
helmet; on Titan the rest of the fall took well over a second and she had
plenty of time to spin cat-style and land on her hands. A medium-hard
one-handed push-up brought her back on her feet; she felt a fleeting glow of
pride that she hadn't overdone it
much. One short backward step kept her from falling the other way.
"I'm all right. I got tossed around by another quake. I don't know whether you
passed me then or not."
Page 90
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"I must have. I'm halfway to the rim Maria! My screen shows a new cloud
erupting all around the lake! Is it blocking your sight?" "The eight-hour
prediction was extremely inaccurate," Status interrupted, "but the qualitative
extrapolation offered by Sergeant
Belvew was very good. The lake is now near the north rim of a hexagonal area
well marked by fume-
emitting faults. It will take a minute or more to determine the new height of
the area. The lake itself has shown no significant change in shape or area. If
Major Xalco will try once more to find the commander
" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]