Pegasus In Space
- Автор: Маккефри Энн
- Серия: Talents #3
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Pegasus In Space». Краткое содержание книги:
For an overpopulated Earth whose resources are strained to the breaking point, there is only one place to look for relief: straight up. With the successful completion of the Padrugoi Space Station, humanity has at last achieved its first large-scale permanent presence in space. But there are those who, for motives of their own, want Padrugoi to fail. Standing in their way are the Talented, men and women gifted with extraordinary mental powers that have made them as feared as they are respected--and utterly indispensable to the colonization effort. Now, as sabotage and attempted murder strike the Station, it's up to the Talented to save the day. Only who is going to save the Talented?
Pegasus in Space is the tale of Peter Reidinger, first Tower Prime!
"The what?" Peter asked politely, not recognizing the acronym.
"SPOT," Pienarr repeated as if to an inattentive student, "the Solar Polar Ozone-finding Telescope."
"I didn't realize that it was operational," Peter said, retreating from that gaffe. The major hadn't mentioned that in his rundown of the observatory's connections.
"Oh, yes, five years now." Pienarr's manner was as if he expected criticism. "Well, with all the zodiacal dust, we had to do something to avoid the extinction that bollixed clear shots of some of the more interesting nebulae. Hubble did well enough in its day with detail down to less than one hundred milliarcseconds across. YEAST improved on that, of course, but SPOT frees us from the interplanetary dust within our own system. But importantly, it checks ozone layers of any likely planet for free oxygen in the atmosphere. It's a well-trained telescope."
Peter struggled to translate the acronyms from his earlier Teacher astronomy studies. He saw Cyberal's lips twitch.
"SPOT's a Sirius one, you see," Cyberal murmured close to Peter's ear, and then turned back to Pienarr with a carefully attentive expression.
Peter cleared his throat hastily to stifle a groan over the pun.
"Oh, yes," said Pienarr, "we spent over a year investigating the Dog Star."
Peter determinedly recalled scanning the technical arguments about where to place the newest generation of space telescopes after YEAST-just beyond the heliopause or in an orbit around the sun, highly inclined to the plane of the ecliptic where all the planets lie. The Solar had won since it was easier to achieve a polar orbit by sending the ferrying spacecraft to Jupiter and using Jupiter's gravitational pull as a slingshot.
"We have several hours on SPOT today for our latest project," Dr. Pienarr said smugly, and pointed to the workstation to which Simona had returned. "Simona is reducing our last spectrophotopolarimetric data of a likely star system within the constellation Aquila." Columns of figures now came up on the wall screen facing Simona Opitz. "Likely in that the G-type primary might have satellites so we'll also check ozone layers for free oxygen. We need a completely sampled coronographic image of the system. Now Farside Number One is looking for space ice," and he gestured to another workstation on the upper level.
"Space ice?"
"Yes, you know, frozen water, even possibly the water that was once used by a higher life-form than that which we found on Mars. One would have to purify such ice but even if it is only good for irrigation, it's a very valuable commodity." Dr. Pienarr gave Peter a telling glance for his surprise at such basic husbandry in space. "Well, that's what Farside Number One is doing, you probably passed it to starboard," he cocked his head inquiringly.
"We did," Peter admitted, and diplomatically said nothing else.
"Farside Number Two is doing a survey of the M-type asteroids of the Patroclus group," Ajmal said, very pleased. "Space Authority has been nagging us for details so they can begin mining operations. Certainly would increase resources."
"Won't that cause problems?" Vin Cyberal asked.
"Not unless they had to be moved," Ajmal said.
Moved, Peter echoed in his thoughts. "You could move an asteroid?"
"Are you asking if you could, telekinetically?" Ajmal asked, his eyes twinkling.
Peter laughed not only as an answer to the astronomer, but also to relieve his startled reaction to the very idea. Not that he thought he was likely to do so. Could he?
"Technically," Pienarr continued, and Cyberal grinned at Peter, "I suppose that could be done with the newest rockets SA has developed. Attach 'em, blast it out of its current orbit. God knows there're enough asteroids.
"That's another problem we monitor-generally on FST Number Three" and Ajmal waved toward the workstation diametrically opposite them. "Then, on that scope," and he gestured almost contemptuously to the rear wall, and the window that looked onto the Schmidt-Cassegrain, "we constantly track NEOs and the PHAs. There were several close ones in the late twentieth century-1989CF, 1997XF 11, and most particularly 1999 AN 10. Do you know what NEOs are?" His eyes fixed on Peter as a teacher's will on a student suspected of ignorance.
"Yes, I do," Peter replied easily. "Wasn't it First Base that identified the very close crossing of the 1998HH 49 in 2028?"
"Yes, it was. The Station was just operational," and a look of regret crossed Ajmal's round mobile face, "but I was not onstation then. Indeed I hadn't even decided on astronomy as a career in 'twenty-eight." He sighed. "Well, that PHA was unusual even for its whimsical type. I'm sure you understand that many small bodies cross Earth's orbit without incident. We certainly are extremely careful not to cry 'wolf' to the SpaceForce. Any PHA is well documented and ephemerals constantly projected so there's plenty of warning and no last-minute panic about Doomsday or Armageddon or Nemesis." He raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes in despair of such dramatics. "October, it was, the sixteenth, and although HH49 should have passed within 560,000 miles of Earth, its orbit was perturbed by the passage of the Comet Enzuka in 2027 so action had to be taken and the PHA was rather neatly disintegrated. Of course, with a united world government, the suspicions and paranoia of the late twentieth century simply can't recur."
Peter sensed that Dr. Pienarr was about to exercise one of his favorite hobbyhorses and interposed his request.
"If it's possible, I really would like to see what you're looking at now in the Patroclus group," Peter said, eagerly.
Ajmal stepped agilely up to the nearest workstation, gesturing for them to follow him. "What we've been focusing on isn't as spectacular as…"
"Oh, don't change it just for me," Peter exclaimed, but Ajmal had already typed in an altering set of commands.
"Nonsense. Even I know you're not the usual visitor. I'll just bring up one of the more impressive ones in the Patroclus group. I've saved the coordinates of the search pattern so it'll be no trouble at all to track back. Ah, here we are," and with a grand flourish of one hand, he indicated the monitor that lit up with images.
Peter was awed to have such a sharp focus on the distant object whose orbit was following Jupiter. Seeing was required for believing, as it hung in space, moving just perceptibly against its backdrop of asteroids and stars, Jupiter not visible in this frame.
"Tithonus," Ajmal announced, tucking his hands under his biceps as he viewed the spectacle. Unnecessarily, the doctor repeated the information running along the bottom of the screen activated by his workstation. "Number 6998 in IAU, inclination 1.7, eccentricity 0.068, with a 28 km diameter. That'd be a handy one to move, at least, if you're really considering that, Vin," and Ajmal gave Cyberal a sly look. "Just fire the rockets in whichever direction you want to break it free from the L-5 point and inject it into a new orbit."
Peter could even make out what looked like "dust" on the uneven surface of Tithonus. In his previous expeditions to observatories, the emphasis had been on the main planets of this solar system or observations from the faint object spectrographs of systems that were then the subjects of intense colonial interest.
"You seem fascinated, Pete," Cyberal said in the sort of voice one used to break into intense concentration.
"Oh, sorry. Yes, I am fascinated. Thank you, Dr. Pienarr."
"Oh, not the title, please." Ajmal gave a testy wave of his hand. "Does get to you, though." His attention had returned to the image.
"I wouldn't mind your going back to the M-asteroid. I would rather not interrupt your work any more than I have to," Peter began politely. Then he pointed to the window and control panels of the telescope. "May I have a look?"
"But, of course, my dear boy, of course. Though," and Ajmal's tone became almost derogatory, "it's of a much earlier generation than the ones we now work with." After a pause, he added, "It was built in situ."