[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
That shot does not compute, insisted one of the again fully absorbed onlookers.
Don t bet on it, Vincent warned him. I have not yet begun to compute. He made the shot, with extra
English to spare. It catalyzed the expected flurry of electronicoohs andahs.
It also allowed old Bob to slip out of the recreation room without being noticed.
Booth had his recorder out and activated. He set it next to his plate. Reinhardt either did not notice it or
had no objection to the reporter s recording his state-ments. The latter was the more likely.
Holland was the one currently talking. According to what you ve told us, Doctor, the surviving
lifeboat-survey ship has been converted to accept both your matter-anti-matter energy system and the
gravity field distortion unit. But you say it has only traveledto the event horizon, not past it into the black
hole itself.
I admit that being able to pass that close to oblivion and return successfully is a tremendous
achievement. Reinhardt didn t change his expression, accepting the compliment as his due. But it s akin
to sailing a ship atop an ocean, as opposed to diving to its bottom. When you begin traveling beneath the
surface, you have to deal with radically different natural forces. It s the same when you pass the event
horizon.
He tapped his plate idly with a fork. How do you expect theCygnus to escape being crushed by the
grav-ity in there? Most theories hold that the center of a black hole no longer contains anything we d
recognize as mass. It s simply a self-sustaining gravity field of in-calculable strength.
I would assume, Durant interrupted, that Dr. Reinhardt has sufficient confidence in his field s ability to
bend the damaging effects around his ship, to drive a hole through what we might call, for lack of better
terms, solid gravity.
Indeed. Reinhardt was clearly delighted to have Durant s support. I know that you re thinking that
one slight error in navigation could be fatal, Captain. That is your field, and so I accept your criticism
where that is concerned.
But I know exactly what I am doing and how I shall proceed. I have worked on the requisite
calcula-tions for nearly two years. The course I ve chosen will take theCygnus into the Pit at the most
acute angle possible. The incredible speed generated by the ship s engines will be augmented by the
gradually increasing pull which will rise to a climax as we strike the event horizon.
The combination should permit me to slingshot through the dimensional warp I believe exists at the
center of the singularity in an instant, long before the shielding null-g field enveloping theCygnus can be
col-lapsed. I have no intention of waiting around inside the event horizon to test the ultimate limits of that
field. It will be sufficient if it protects theCygnus for several seconds.
You re going to encounter all kinds of secondary effects before you ever reach that point. McCrae
sounded as dubious as Holland. What about the in-tense radiation, the heat generated by the collapsing
matter entering the hole?
My previous probings and all my studies have shown that if I remain exactly on course, theCygnus will
pass through unscathed. Furthermore, since the heat within the collapsar s accretion disk is
gravity-related, much of it should be diverted around theCyg-nus by the null-g field.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Fantastic! Durant was completely overwhelmed by the proposal. Both the notion itself and the physics
in-volved were beyond my concepts of magnificence. He shook his head slowly. His thoughts were a
confused mixture of awe and disbelief. They were mirrored in his expression.
Having disposed of his last opponent, Vincent drifted away from the pool table. Most of the robots who
had watched the contest remained there. Crowd-ing around the table, they pushed and shoved one
an-other for the chance to use the cues. With considerable frustration and little success, they were trying
to imitate Vincent s techniques.
The three-level pinball machine crackled and chimed satisfactorily as Vincent operated the dozen
flippers within. His mind was not on the game. It appeared he moved randomly from one machine to the
next. All the while he was edging closer to the exit. At last he al-lowed a final ball to find its own noisy
way through the labyrinth of the last machine and slipped out into the corridor.
The sentry robot who had been keeping watch on him turned away for but a moment. When his gaze
re-turned, it was in time to see Vincent scudding down the corridor. He signaled to his companion, and
both moved quickly to the doorway, looked out. One glanced up the corridor, the other down as they
func-tioned in tandem.
Vincent was just turning the far corner.
Moving on smoothly pumping metal legs, the two sentries rushed after him. Vincent was not restricted to
such anthropomorphic methods of locomotion. The in-stant he turned the corner he accelerated on his
repel-lers and shot down the corridor, rounding another corner where two passageways intersected.
The sentries reached the same turn, peered around it. Vincent was long gone. Their comparatively
one-track minds struggled to account for his sudden disap-pearance, failed. Blinking in confusion, they
hurried down the wrong corridor.
Durant s mind was working furiously, trying to make sense of unheard-of possibilities. In the light of so
fan-tastic, so grand a proposition, it was hard to consider things rationally. It was a losing struggle to
moderate his enthusiasm.
So you want thePalomino, he was mumbling, to stand by and monitor your journey? You want us to
act as observers to record your passage?
To another place, Reinhardt told them, and an-other time, where...
Booth was making a show of adjusting his recorder. It distracted Reinhardt, somewhat broke the mood
of scientific ebullience which had filled the dining room.
What are you doing, Mr. Booth?
Just changing the sequencing on my recorder. He smiled apologetically at the commander of the
Cygnus. I wouldn t want to miss anything.
Commendable of you, said Reinhardt.
Thanks. I think it s important we be sure and get your last words. For posterity. It ll serve as a more
ef-fective warning against this sort of insanity than any-thing I could make up.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Reinhardt s momentary euphoria turned once more to anger. Durant he could manipulate with the
promise of new wonders. He could tease McCrae with memories of her father. Holland and Pizer he
could overawe with his knowledge. But Booth . . . Booth re-tained the maddening, smug self-satisfaction
of the ig-norant man confident in his simple view of the Universe. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl chiara76.opx.pl
That shot does not compute, insisted one of the again fully absorbed onlookers.
Don t bet on it, Vincent warned him. I have not yet begun to compute. He made the shot, with extra
English to spare. It catalyzed the expected flurry of electronicoohs andahs.
It also allowed old Bob to slip out of the recreation room without being noticed.
Booth had his recorder out and activated. He set it next to his plate. Reinhardt either did not notice it or
had no objection to the reporter s recording his state-ments. The latter was the more likely.
Holland was the one currently talking. According to what you ve told us, Doctor, the surviving
lifeboat-survey ship has been converted to accept both your matter-anti-matter energy system and the
gravity field distortion unit. But you say it has only traveledto the event horizon, not past it into the black
hole itself.
I admit that being able to pass that close to oblivion and return successfully is a tremendous
achievement. Reinhardt didn t change his expression, accepting the compliment as his due. But it s akin
to sailing a ship atop an ocean, as opposed to diving to its bottom. When you begin traveling beneath the
surface, you have to deal with radically different natural forces. It s the same when you pass the event
horizon.
He tapped his plate idly with a fork. How do you expect theCygnus to escape being crushed by the
grav-ity in there? Most theories hold that the center of a black hole no longer contains anything we d
recognize as mass. It s simply a self-sustaining gravity field of in-calculable strength.
I would assume, Durant interrupted, that Dr. Reinhardt has sufficient confidence in his field s ability to
bend the damaging effects around his ship, to drive a hole through what we might call, for lack of better
terms, solid gravity.
Indeed. Reinhardt was clearly delighted to have Durant s support. I know that you re thinking that
one slight error in navigation could be fatal, Captain. That is your field, and so I accept your criticism
where that is concerned.
But I know exactly what I am doing and how I shall proceed. I have worked on the requisite
calcula-tions for nearly two years. The course I ve chosen will take theCygnus into the Pit at the most
acute angle possible. The incredible speed generated by the ship s engines will be augmented by the
gradually increasing pull which will rise to a climax as we strike the event horizon.
The combination should permit me to slingshot through the dimensional warp I believe exists at the
center of the singularity in an instant, long before the shielding null-g field enveloping theCygnus can be
col-lapsed. I have no intention of waiting around inside the event horizon to test the ultimate limits of that
field. It will be sufficient if it protects theCygnus for several seconds.
You re going to encounter all kinds of secondary effects before you ever reach that point. McCrae
sounded as dubious as Holland. What about the in-tense radiation, the heat generated by the collapsing
matter entering the hole?
My previous probings and all my studies have shown that if I remain exactly on course, theCygnus will
pass through unscathed. Furthermore, since the heat within the collapsar s accretion disk is
gravity-related, much of it should be diverted around theCyg-nus by the null-g field.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Fantastic! Durant was completely overwhelmed by the proposal. Both the notion itself and the physics
in-volved were beyond my concepts of magnificence. He shook his head slowly. His thoughts were a
confused mixture of awe and disbelief. They were mirrored in his expression.
Having disposed of his last opponent, Vincent drifted away from the pool table. Most of the robots who
had watched the contest remained there. Crowd-ing around the table, they pushed and shoved one
an-other for the chance to use the cues. With considerable frustration and little success, they were trying
to imitate Vincent s techniques.
The three-level pinball machine crackled and chimed satisfactorily as Vincent operated the dozen
flippers within. His mind was not on the game. It appeared he moved randomly from one machine to the
next. All the while he was edging closer to the exit. At last he al-lowed a final ball to find its own noisy
way through the labyrinth of the last machine and slipped out into the corridor.
The sentry robot who had been keeping watch on him turned away for but a moment. When his gaze
re-turned, it was in time to see Vincent scudding down the corridor. He signaled to his companion, and
both moved quickly to the doorway, looked out. One glanced up the corridor, the other down as they
func-tioned in tandem.
Vincent was just turning the far corner.
Moving on smoothly pumping metal legs, the two sentries rushed after him. Vincent was not restricted to
such anthropomorphic methods of locomotion. The in-stant he turned the corner he accelerated on his
repel-lers and shot down the corridor, rounding another corner where two passageways intersected.
The sentries reached the same turn, peered around it. Vincent was long gone. Their comparatively
one-track minds struggled to account for his sudden disap-pearance, failed. Blinking in confusion, they
hurried down the wrong corridor.
Durant s mind was working furiously, trying to make sense of unheard-of possibilities. In the light of so
fan-tastic, so grand a proposition, it was hard to consider things rationally. It was a losing struggle to
moderate his enthusiasm.
So you want thePalomino, he was mumbling, to stand by and monitor your journey? You want us to
act as observers to record your passage?
To another place, Reinhardt told them, and an-other time, where...
Booth was making a show of adjusting his recorder. It distracted Reinhardt, somewhat broke the mood
of scientific ebullience which had filled the dining room.
What are you doing, Mr. Booth?
Just changing the sequencing on my recorder. He smiled apologetically at the commander of the
Cygnus. I wouldn t want to miss anything.
Commendable of you, said Reinhardt.
Thanks. I think it s important we be sure and get your last words. For posterity. It ll serve as a more
ef-fective warning against this sort of insanity than any-thing I could make up.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Reinhardt s momentary euphoria turned once more to anger. Durant he could manipulate with the
promise of new wonders. He could tease McCrae with memories of her father. Holland and Pizer he
could overawe with his knowledge. But Booth . . . Booth re-tained the maddening, smug self-satisfaction
of the ig-norant man confident in his simple view of the Universe. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]