Archiwum
- Index
- Fred Saberhagen The Book of the Gods 04 God of the Golden Fleece
- Glen Cook Garrett 08 Petty Pewter Gods
- Jack L. Chalker Watchers at the Well 03 Gods at the Well of Souls
- Jack L. Chalker Dancing Gods 3 Vengance of the Dance
- Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg The Ugly Little Boy
- Asimov, Isaac Robot 06 Robots & Empire
- Asimov Isaac x8] Pozytronowy człowiek
- Asimov, Isaac Las Corrientes del Espacio
- Asimov, Isaac Magical Wishes
- Career Opportunities in Photography
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- stemplofil.keep.pl
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radiant in all wave lengths. There's not a single planetary body in the Solar system, no body of any size,
that is more suitable for the use of the batteries than the Moon is. Even Mercury is too hot. But the use
does tie you to the surface, and if you don't like the surface "
Selene rose to her feet suddenly, and said, "All right, Ben, you've rested enough. Up! Up!"
He struggled to his feet and said, "A Pump Station, however, would mean that no Lunarite would ever
have to come out on the surface, if he didn't want to."
"Uphill we go, Ben. Well go to that ridge up ahead. See it, where the Earthlight cuts off in a horizontal
line?"
They made their way up the final stretch silently. Denison was aware of the smoother area to their side; a
wide swathe of slope from which most of the dust had been brushed.
"That's too smooth for a beginner to work up," Selene said, answering his thoughts. "Don't get too
ambitious or you ll want me to teach you the kangaroo-hop next."
She made a kangaroo-hop as she spoke, turned about face almost before landing, and said, "Right here.
Sit down and I'll adjust "
Denison did, facing downhill. He looked down the slope uncertainly. "Can you really glide on it?"
"Of course. The gravity is weaker on the Moon than on the Earth, so you press against the ground much
less strongly, and that means there is much less friction. Everything is more slippery on the Moon than on
the Earth. That's why the floors in our corridors and apartments seemed unfinished to you. Would you
like to hear me givemy little lecture on the subject? The one I give the tourists?"
"No, Selene."
"Besides, we're going to use gliders, of course." She had a small cartridge in her hand. Clamps and a
pair of thin tubes were attached to it.
"What is that?" asked Ben.
"Just a small liquid-gas reservoir. It will emit a jet of vapor just under your boots. The thin gas layer
between boots and ground will reduce friction to virtually zero. You'll move as though you were in clear
space."
Denison said uneasily. "I disapprove. Surely, it's wasteful to use gas in this fashion on the Moon."
"Oh, now. What gas do you think we use in these gliders? Carbon dioxide? Oxygen? This is waste gas
to begin with. It's argon. It comes out of the Moon's soil in ton-lots, formed by the billions of years of
breakdown of po-tassium-40. . . . That's part of my lecture, too, Ben. . . . The argon has only a few
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specialized uses on the Moon. We could use it for gliding for a million years without exhausting the
supply. ... All right. Your gliders are on, Now wait till I put mine on."
"How do they work?"
"It's quite automatic. You just start sliding and that will trip the contact and start the vapor. You've only
got a few minutes supply; but that's all you'll need."
She stood up and helped him to his feet. "Face downhill. ... Come on, Ben, this is a gentle slope. Look
at it. It looks perfectly level."
"No, it doesn't," said Denison, sulkily. "It looks like a cliff to me."
"Nonsense. Now listen to me and remember what I told you. Keep your feet about six inches apart and
one just a few inches ahead of the other. It doesn't matter which one is ahead. Keep your knees bent.
Don't lean into the wind because there isn't any. Don't try to look up or back, but you can look from side
to side if you have to. Most of all, when you finally hit level, don't try to stop too soon; you'll be going
faster than you think. Just let the glider expire and then friction will bring you to a slow halt."
"I'll never remember all that."
"Yes, you will. And I'll be right at your side to help. And if you do fall and I don't catch you, don't try to
do anything. Just relax and let yourself tumble or slide. There are no boulders anywhere that you can
collide with."
Denison swallowed and looked ahead. The southward slide was gleaming in Earthlight. Minute
unevenness caught more than their share of light, leaving tiny uphill patches in darkness so that there was
a vague mottling of the surface. The bulging half-circle of Earth rode the black sky almost directly ahead.
"Ready?" said Selene. Her gauntleted hand was between his shoulders.
"Ready," said Denison faintly.
"Then off you go," she said. She pushed and Denison felt himself begin to move. He moved quite slowly
at first. He turned toward her, wobbling, and she said, "Don't worry. I'm right at your side."
He could feel the ground beneath his feet and then he couldn't. The glider had been activated.
For a moment he felt as though he were standing still. There was no push of air against his body, no feel
of anything sliding past his feet. But when he turned toward Selene again, he noticed that the lights and
shadows to one side were moving backward at a slowly increasing speed.
"Keep your eyes on the Earth," Selene's voice said in his ear, "till you build up speed. The faster you go,
the more stable you'll be. Keep your knees bent . . . You're doing very well, Ben."
"For an Immie," gasped Denison. "How does it feel?"
"Like flying," he said. The pattern of light and dark on either side was moving backward in a blur. He
looked briefly to one side, then the other, trying to convert the sensation of a backward flight of the
surroundings into one of a forward flight of his own. Then, as soon as he succeeded, he found he had to
look forward hastily at the Earth to regain his sense of balance. "I suppose that's not a good comparison
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to use to you. You have no experience of flying on the Moon."
"Now I know, though. Flying must be like gliding I know whatthat is."
She was keeping up with him easily.
Denison was going fast enough now so that he got the sensation of motion even when he looked ahead.
The Moonscape ahead was opening before him and flowing past on either side. He said, "How fast do
you get to go in a glide?"
"A good Moon-race," said Selene, "has been clocked at speeds in excess of a hundred miles an
hour on steeper slopes than this one, of course. You'll probably reach a top of thirty-five."
"It feels a lot faster than that somehow."
"Well, it isn't. We're leveling off now, Ben, and you haven't fallen. Now just hang on; the glider will die
off and you'll feel friction. Don't do anything to help it. Just keep going."
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