《Fallen angels 》作者：- Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle & Michael Fly

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Fallen Angels Larry Niven Produced by calibre 0.6.40 FALLEN ANGELS Larry Niven Jerry Pournelle Michael Flynn CHAPTER ONE - quotAspiring to Be Gods . . .quot High over the northern hemisphere the scoopships hull began to sing. The cabin was a soundingbox for vibrations far below the threshold of hearing. Alex MacLeod could feel his bonessinging in sympathy. Piranha was kissing high atmosphere. Planet Earth was shrouded in pearl white. There was no break anywhere. There were mountainranges of fluff looming cliffs vast plains that stretched to a far distant convex horizon acloud cover that looked firm enough to walk on. An illusion a geography of vapors asinsubstantial as the dreams of youth. If he were to set foot upon them . . . The clouds did notfloat in free fall as was proper but in an acceleration frame that could hurl the scoopshipheadlong into an enormous ball of rock and iron and smash it like any dream. Falling they called it. Alex felt the melancholy stealing over him again. Nostalgia For that germ infested ball ofmud Not possible. He could barely remember Earth. Snapshots from childhood a chaotic montageof memories. He had fallen down the cellar steps once in a childhood home he scarcely recalled.Tumbling arms flailing head thumping hard against the concrete floor. He hadnt been hurtnot really. Hed been too small to mass up enough kinetic energy. But he recalled the terrorvividly. Now he was a lot bigger and he would fall a lot farther. His parents had once taken him atop the Sears Tower and another time to the edge of the MesaVerde cliffs and each time he had thought what an awful long way down it was. Then they hadtaken him so far up that down ceased to mean anything at all. Alex stared out of Piranha’s windscreen at the cloud deck trying to conjure that feeling ofheight trying to feel that the clouds were down and he was up. But it had all been too manyyears ago in another world. All he could see was distance. Living in the habitats did that toyou. It stole height from your senses and left you only with distance. He glanced covertly at Gordon Tanner in the copilots seat. If you were born in the habitatsyou never knew height at all. There were no memories to steal. Was Gordon luckier than he ornot The ship sang. He was beginning to hear it now. And Alex MacLeod was back behind a stick where God had meant him to be flying a spaceshipagain. Melancholy was plain ingratitude He had plotted and schemed his way into thisassignment. He had pestered Mary and pestered Mary until she had relented and bumped his nameto the top of the list just to be rid of him. He had won. Of