"Alan Dean Foster - With friends like these." - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

"And the gold overlay?" asked Communicator Phrnnx, for being among the youngest of the crew, his
curiosity quotient was naturally among the highest.
"That, gentlebeings, means that the'Shield is still up. After all these years I'd thought
perhaps..." The Professor made what passed for a shrug among his people. He turned from the port
to the others.
"As you all recall, I hope, the phenomenon below us, the Shield, is the direct result of the Old
Empire-Terran Wars of ages ago. At that time, the inhabitants of this planet first broke free of
their own system and started to come out to the stars.
"They found there a multiracial empire nominally ruled by a race known to us as the Veen. The
Terrans were invited to join the empire, accruing the same rights and privileges as had
historically been granted to all new space-going races for thousands and thousands of years."
"And they refused," put in Rappan. "Yes, they refused. It became quickly apparent to the Veen that
the Terrans intended to carve out a little pocket empire of their own in another sector of space.


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Since Terra was so far away from the center of things, so to speak, the Veen decided that for the
sake of peaceтАФand the VeenтАФthis could not be allowed to take place. Accordingly, there was a war,
or rather, a series of wars. These lasted for centuries, despite the overwhelming numerical
superiority of the Veen. Gradually, the Terrans were pushed back to their own home world. A
standoff ensued, as the Veen and .their allies were unable to break the ultimate defenses of the
Terrans.
"Then a great scientist of one of the allied races of the Veen discovered, quite by accident, the
quasi-mathematical principle behind the Shield. The nature of the Shield forbade its use on
anything smaller than a good-sized moon. It was thus useless for such obvious military
applications as, for example, a ship defensive screen. Then someone got the bright idea of
enveloping the entire planet of Terra in one huge Shield, making it into an impenetrable cage. At
worst, it would provide the Empire with a breathing spell in which to marshal its sorely battered
forces. At best it would restrict the Terrans to their own fortress until such time as the Veen
saw fit to let them out. The chances of the Terrans accidentally stumbling onto the same principle
was considered to be slight. As you can now see, this indeed has been the case." The Professor
sighed again, a high, whistling sound.
"However, the wars with Terra had also depleted the resources of the Veen tremendously. Those
races which had been allied to them only by virtue of the Veen's superior knowledge and strength
saw an irresistible opportunity to supplant the Veen in the hierarchy of Empire. The result? The
Time of Conflicts, which resulted in the breakdown of the Empire, the final elimination of the
once-proud Veen, and after considerable bickering and fighting, the formation of our present
FederationтАФin a much more primitive form, of course."
He returned his gaze once again to the blue-white planet circling below, its land areas blurred in
the shifting golden haze which was the by-product of the Shield. They had already locked in to the
Shield station on the planet's only satellite. "Unfortunately, the Ban still remains."
Rappan broke away from his console for a moment. "Look, we've been through all that. The supposed
rule states that the penalty for breaking the Shield either partially, or completely, is death,
for all those concerned. But that murfted law is millennia old!"
"And still on the books," retorted old Alo, the Commander Second.
"I know, I know!" said Rappan, adjusting a meter. "Which is one reason why every being on this
ship is a volunteer. And if I thought we had a choice I'd never have commandeered the Tpin for
this trip. But you know as well as I, Alo, we have no choiceV We've been fighting the Yops now for