"Alan Dean Foster - Flinx 4 - End of the Matter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

he said, gesturing with a foothand toward the three-dimensional star projection floating above the
center of the table, "how long?"
Brushing back white-brown hair, the human technician replied mechanically, "Unless for some
unimaginable reason it alters its path, sir, the massive collapsar will emerge from the Velvet Dam
in seventy-two point one standard Commonwealth years. Fifteen point six years thereafter, it will
impact tangent to the projected critical distance from the sun around which the twin Commonwealth
worlds of Carmague-Collangatta orbit. We estimate"- he paused to swallow-" that the sun of the
twin worlds will have completely vanished down the hole within a week."
"So fast," the President whispered, "so fast."
"Twenty-seven point three years later," the technician continued remorselessly, "the same
catastrophe will befall the star around which the world Twosky Bright circles." He paused a
moment, then went on. "No other Commonwealth suns or worlds lie within crisis range of the
collapsarтАЩs projected path through our galaxy. It will continue on through the galactic axis.
Several thousand years from now, it will leave the Milky Way, traveling in the general direction
of RNGC 185."
"How can the collapsar move so fast?" the President asked.
The technician glanced at his superior; it was the science chief who replied. "We still do not
fully understand all the mechanics of collapsars, Honored One. Such radical distortions of the
stellar matrix retain many secrets. It is enough to know that it is moving at the indicated speed,
on the predicted path."
The President nodded and touched a switch, throwing a vast semicircular map onto the ceiling. He
studied the map, ignoring the view of sweltering jungle and marshland visible through the window
below the ceiling screen. "What of the three worlds, then?"
Rising, the Last Resort moved to stand next to the science counselor. A tail human, be towered
over the President-but only physically. One of the three endangered worlds was inhabited almost
solely by thranx, yet they were as much a part of his flock, as devout and inspiring, as was his
own family. His robes, in the aquamarine of the Church, were simple and comfortable. Only a single
gold insignia on sleeve and collar indicated that he was the ranking member of the Commonwealth's
major spiritual organization.
"Caimague and Collangatta are the fourth and twelfth most populous worlds in the Commonwealth,


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sir," he declared. "Twosky Bright is the twenty-third, but ranks fifteenth in real economic
production. Together, the three endangered planets have a population of over three and a half
billion. From both a humanxistic and an economic standpoint, their destruction would be a stunning
blow."
Great compound eyes stared expectantly up at him. The President hoped wisdom was shining from each
of them, instead of the anxiety and helplessness he felt. "What can be done for them?"
The supreme spiritual leader of the Commonwealth turned eyes downward but found no inspiration in
the tiled floor. "The Church's logisticians tell me ... very little, sir. Even given the nearly
ninety years left to us, actual evacuation is not practical. It would take the resources of the
entire navy plus every Church peace- forcer to shift even a fraction of the populations safely and
successfully to other worlds. As soon as such a movement was initiated, the reason behind it would
be impossible to keep secret. There would be panic of the worst sort. Naturally, we cannot
consider such action. And with the Commonwealth so weakened, there are those who would take
advantage of our absent defense."
"I know," murmured President Drusindromid. "What is the maximum number that can be saved with- out