Критический фактор

Az Elveszett rakéta folytatását tartja kezében az olvasó. A Dharwn távoli, sivár de ásványi kincsekben gazdag óriásbolygóján a gravitáció háromezerszer nagyobb mint a Földön. Gyilkos légköre is végzetes volna az emberre, aki a lábát sem teheti a Dhrawn felszínére.

Barlennan kapitány tengerész népe azonban szerződést kötött a földiekkel. A tűrőképes, hernyószerű meszkliniták elvállalják a felderítő munkát és a kutatási feladatokat, melyek persze még az ő számukra sem veszélytelenek.

De Barlennan kapitány nemcsak a földiek számára gyűjti az adatokat. Titkos célja az ősi emberi civilizáció vívmányainak a csillagközi utazást is lehetővé tevő technológiának a megszerzése. Sikerül-e szándékait megvalósítani? Hogyan alakul a szövetségre lépett emberek és meszkliniták hátsó szándékkal terhelt viszonya? Erről szól az amerikai Hal Clement kötete. 

Two alien races lived under a single sun, someplace across the galaxy, sharing their world… sharing life itself. For they lived together in a partnership more perfect than any other known to the intelligences of the galaxy. Together, the two races became one, each deriving from the other that which made him greater than his individual self. Host and symbiote, they lived together, shared together… two bodies in one. For the one race was symbiotic, amorphous, able to enter the body of the other.

Then one symbiote turned Criminal, and his race could not rest until he was tracked down. But the Criminal could hide in any living thing… and on Earth there were over two billion humans alone!

HAL CLEMENT blends a masterpiece of science fiction with a story of pure detection to produce his best novel, and one of the most famous s-f novels of the past quarter-century.

Clement’s was the engaging tale of the adventures of Barlennan, a sea captain among his caterpillar-like people, on the high-gravity world of Mesklin. In Barlennan and his sailors go with humans to the even stranger world of Dhrawn, a “crusted star” of the type mentioned by Harlow Shapley. Dhrawn circles the feeble red star Lalande 21185, which actually exists (although the planet is fictionalized). Most of the book is the story of a huge landship crossing Dhrawn’s solid surface crewed by these nonhuman sailors, amidst bizarre dangers, and trying to keep Barlennan’s strange plan secret from humans. The characters, despite being mostly from Barlennan’s world, Mesklin, are well drawn and the setting is well realized. Readers bewildered by the melting and freezing of Dhrawn’s ammonia-water hydrosphere will do well to consult a phase diagram.

Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1971.

Nel futuro, la Commissione per l'Energia controllerà rigidamente il mondo. Nelle profondità dell'oceano, però, qualcuno ha preso una strada diversa… e qualcosa di nuovo sta per accadere sulla Terra!

Алиса закончила второй класс и собирается со своим папой в путешествие за редкими зверями для зоопарка. Капитану Полоскову, механику Зеленому и Селезневым предстоит множество приключений, встреча с космическими пиратами, птицей Говоруном, а также героями – тремя капитанами, которые уже почти стали историческими реликвиями…