"Anderson, Poul - For Love and Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

УOh, this one or that one, depending. IТve been at it a long while. When some fly-by-night nation goes under, I find me another.Ф He saw her frown. УYes, I know a spacecraft mishandled can do as much damage as a crashing asteroid. Mine hasnТt done any yet; and IТve been flitting a long while, I said. With several tribes, countries, sovereignties, globalities, what-have-you, IТm kind of grandfathered.Ф He leaned forward and patted her knee. УDonТt worry, brighteyes.Ф
She drew back, also in her spirit, but was nevertheless gripped. УWhy are you on Jonna?Ф
He nodded toward the river. УWhat else but yonder?Ф
УWhich isЧФ
УThatТs what Dzesi and I would like to find out. So far, between our tests and my databaseЧI keep a whopping database, if I do say so myself; and I doЧweТve established that it wasnТt made by any beings we know of, and includes technology none of them have ever heard of.Ф
A fresh shiver passed through Lissa. УForerunners?Ф
УI suppose so, whoever they were. Or are.Ф
УYes-s-s,Ф breathed the anthropard.
УLet us make certain we understand each other,Ф said Karl. He was right, Lissa admitted to herself. If you didnТt trudge through the obvious at the outset, you might learn the hard way that an alienЧeven a member of your own species, come from another world, another societyЧmeant something quite different from what you did. Language was often too subtle, too mutable for the capabilities of a translator program.
УI assume we refer to those mysterious beings whose ancient [23] relics have infrequently been come upon,Ф the Gargantuan continued. УIt is not known whether the creators are still extant, but certainly they are no longer present in such parts of the galaxy as any of todayТs spacefaring societies have visited.Ф
Hebo nodded. УYouТve got it. Myself, I favor the notion that they werenТt interested in colonizing, for whatever reason, and just had a few scientific missions in these parts. But why they never came back for a later lookЧФ He shrugged. УThatТs another good question. They must know that geological time has gone by. If theyТre alive yet.Ф
УOne may well doubt that,Ф said Karl. УSurely, however few and fleeting have been the expeditions to remote parts of the galaxy, so mighty and long-established a civilization would indicate its existence somewhere in itЧby radiation from power sources, for example, detectable across many parsecs.Ф
УBut the galaxyТs so bloody goddamn big. Oh, yes, our ships can jump to anywhere in it, but what microfraction of the total volume have we even touched? Especially at much greater distances than our usual rounds go. WouldnТt you at least expect that the ForerunnersТ home region would show lingering signs of their influence? Instead, everyplace seems to be the same on average, a few planets where the sophonts have gotten into space themselves, and thatТs it.Ф
Unless the Forerunners are something utterly other, thought Lissa, so strange that we canТt ever find themЧor couldnТt recognize them for what they are if we didЧmaybe beings or machines that can survive at the core of the galaxy, maybe off in a whole different universe, maybeЧ It was not the first time she had wondered, nor was she the first one.
Hebo slapped his knee. УAll right,Ф he said impatiently, Уhave we told each other enough of what everybody knows?Ф
УNo, rather, of what no one knows,Ф answered Karl.
УWhat is this thing here?Ф Lissa whispered.
Hebo laughed. УI thought youТd never ask. Well, thatТs what weТre trying to figure out. There could be one blue giant of a lot [24] to learn from it. Including, maybe, a clue or three to the makers.Ф
The little she knew whirled in her head.
Found, almost always by purest chanceЧ
A great field of rock on each of three airless worlds, fused by something not natural, optically flat save where meteorites had gouged craters.
Two nickel-iron asteroids that had been shaped into perfect spheres and set in the Trojan positions of the orbit of the planet humans called Xanadu.
On another living world, a single crystal the size of a high hill, which may have been the core of a huge machine orЧor what?
Small metallic objects of peculiar shapes, brought to sight by erosion of the rock around them, conceivably tools or components that had been dropped and forgotten, as modern explorers might leave a hammer or some bolts behind, but the uses of these were unguessable, though when their perdurable alloys were finally analyzed it opened up a whole new field of materials science.
Six-meter bubbles of similar stuff afloat in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-sized planet, hollow, emptied of whatever they once contained, though maybe that had not been matter at all but a resonance of forces.
Fossilized traces of foundations removed and activities ended, like dinosaur tracks, and one maddening impression that might have been made by some kind of circuitryЧ
Where datable, perhaps ten million years old, but the probable error of those measurements might be up to fifty percent.
And few, fewЧ
How much more waited undiscovered, at the half-million or so stars that spacefarers or their robots had come to, however briefly, and the three hundred billion or more in this one galaxy that none had yet reached?
Lissa stared back toward the river. УThis may be ... the best preserved Forerunner object ... ever found.Ф
Hebo nodded. УAs far as Dzesi and I can tell. We even suspect itТs in working order. Though we canТt tell what that would [25] signify. It canТt be hyperbeaming, this far down in the gravity well. Maybe there was a relay satellite, or maybe a ship called now and then to collect the data.Ф
УBut this is incredible. You canТt keep it hidden.Ф Anger flared. УYouТve no right to!Ф
She jumped, to her feet, spilling her drink. The Rikhan glided up, hand on knife, lips drawn off teeth. Karl whistled and stirred his bulk.
УWhoa, there!Ф Hebo rose too. A cloud passed over the sun, blown from the west. A wild creature screamed.
Hebo picked up LissaТs beaker and busied himself with a fresh one. УHere, let me make you a refill,Ф he urged. УCome on, weТre friends. Just listen, will you?Ф
УGo ahead,Ф she agreed after a minute. She accepted the drink. HeТd mixed it stiffer than before. SheТd better be careful.
Hebo returned to his chair, outrageously relaxed. УWell, now, to start with, I told you I make my living where and how I can, as long as itТs more or less decently. DecencyТs got a lot of different definitions, human and nonhuman.Ф His tone smoothed. УBut I assure you, milady, IТm not a worse man than most.
УSo a couple of years ago I caught word about the discovery of, uh, Jonna. Obscure, only another sort-of-Earthlike planetЧСonly!Т Ф he exclaimed. Calm again: УSooner or later, somebody would try to learn more, but no telling who or why. Nobody can keep up with everything that everybodyТs up to. Well, why not me? Nothing to forbid. No oneТs laid any claim. No jurisdiction except the Covenant of Space, and you know how much that means.Ф
УA statement of pious intentions.Ф Did the Rikhan sound contemptuous?
УA basic common-sense agreement,Ф Karl reproved.
УAnyhow,Ф Hebo said, Уwe werenТt about to commit banditry, conquest, environmental destruction, or cruelty to politicians. We just intended a look-see. DzesiТs partnered with me before, now and then.Ф
[26] УFor the fame and honor of the Ulas Trek,Ф said the anthropard.
And DzesiТs own, Lissa thought. She isnТt altogether unlike us.
УHow did you find the artifact when we didnТt?Ф the woman asked.
УPartly luck, no doubt,Ф Hebo conceded. УHowever, we did have our particular motives. You people are after basic scientific knowledge, planetology, biology, et cetera. The planetТs loaded with that, anywhere you go. We were looking for something that might pay off.Ф
УHow?Ф
УOh, maybe a region someone would like to try colonizing. These long days and nights, swings in the weather, and allЧin some areas, at least, maybe theyТd not be too much for, oh, possibly the Sklerons. Of course, theyТd want very specific information before deciding it was worth their while to investigate further. So we were random-sampling, with a close eye out for anything unusual. When our optics spotted this from orbit, naturally we came down to see what it was.Ф
Indignation resumed. УAnd you havenТt considered reporting it!Ф
УWe will, we will, and meanwhile we wonТt have harmed it. We figured somebodyЧa news agency, a scientific institution, whateverЧwould pay well to be told about it. Contract drawn up beforehand, payment on proof of truthfulness. Same as selling any other information. InformationТs really the one universal currency.Ф
Anger gave way to a certain sympathy. She wished it were not she who must dash his hopes to the ground. УIТm afraid weЧ canТt keep the secret for you. Not ethically.Ф