"Campbell, John W Jr - Arcot, Wade and Morey 03 - Invaders from the Infinite" - читать интересную книгу автора (Campbell John W Jr)

find the three greatest students of Science of this Solar System. So it
was here we came for help.

"Our race has arisen," he continued, "as you have so surely determined
from the race you call canines. It was artificially produced by the
Ancient Masters when their hour of need had come. We have lost the great
science of the Ancient Ones. But we have developed a different science,
a science of the mind."

"Dogs are far more psychic than are men. They would naturally tend to
develop such a civilization," said Arcot judiciously.

Chapter III
===========

A QUARTER OF A MILLION LIGHT YEARS
==================================

"OUR CIVILIZATION," continued Zezdon Afthen, "is built largely on the
knowledge of the mind. We cannot have criminals, for the man who plots
evil, is surely found out by his thoughts. We cannot have lying
politicians and unjust rulers.

"It is a peaceful civilization. The Ancient Masters feared and hated War
with a mighty aversion. But they did not make our race cowards, merely
peaceful intelligence. Now we must fight for our homes, and my race will
fight mightily. But we need weapons.

"But my story has little to do with our race. I will tell the story of
our civilization and of the Ancient Ones later when the time is more
auspicious.

"Four months ago, our mental vibration instruments detected powerful
emanations from space. That could only mean that a new, highly
intelligent race had suddenly appeared within a billion miles of our
world. The directional devices quickly spotted it as emanating from the
third planet of our system. Zezdon Fentes, with my aid, set up some
special apparatus, which would pick up strong thoughts and make them
visible. We had used this before to see not only what an enemy looked
upon, but also what he saw in that curious thing, the eye of the mind,
the vision of the past and the future. But while the
thought-amplification device was powerful, the new emanations were hard
to separate from each other.

"It was done finally, when all but one man slept. That one we were
enabled to tune sharply to. After that we could reach him at any time.
He was the commander. We saw him operate the ship, we saw the ship, saw
it glide over the barren, rocky surface of that world. We saw other men
come in and go out. They were strange men. Short, squat, bulky men.
Their arms were short and stocky. But their strength was enormous,