"Edmond Hamilton - The Star Hunters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

Oliphant twitched. His body shuddered, writhed. Of a sudden, his eyes opened, staring blankly upward.

Mason bent over him. тАЬJohn, it's meтАФHugh Mason. What did you find out?"

Oliphant whispered, a dribble of words. тАЬI made it out. I didn't thinkтАФthey shot me as I was getting into
the flitterтАФ"

"What did you find out? What's the new thing that Orion's got?"

Oliphant's eyes focused on his face. He spoke painfully, slurredly.

"What it is exactly, I couldn't find out. It's something that was discovered by Ryll Emrys, one of their
greatest scientists. Something of cosmic power. But Ryll Emrys has fled from Orion, taking his secret
with himтАФ"

Mason bent closer, for now Oliphant's voice was failing fast.

"Ryll Emrys fled to the Marches of Outer Space. Orion has sent one of their top agents, V'rann, after
him. They'll risk anything to get him back, theyтАФ"
The voice stopped suddenly, and an incredulous look came into Oliphant's eyes. тАЬWhy, I'm dying, IтАФтАЭ
Then understanding came into his eyes, he whispered, тАЬThanks, Hugh."

Finetti bent over him, and after a moment he straightened up. тАЬHe's gone."

Mason was silent, looking down at the still face. Then he said.

"He did his job. And now there's a bigger job for someone else to do. In the Marches of Outer Space."


CHAPTER II
THE TWO EARTHMEN were like giants walking through the galaxy. They strode between, the shining
constellations, and the great streams of stars washed against their breasts, and their shoulders and heads
towered up colossal above the million tiny suns.

This was not the real galaxy but an infinitely smaller simulacrum of it, a planetarium on a grand scale that
filled this whole hundred-foot circular room deep beneath Terran Intelligence Building, on Sirius Four.
Complexes of lenses projected accurate images of every important star in the galaxy. It was all hereтАФthe
star-clusters and lone suns and dark rogues, the magnificence of the great constellations, the whole
sweep of the galaxy.

One of the two men was Hugh Mason. The other was Valdez, chief of Terran Intelligence, a deeply
worried man. His thin face twitched slightly, and his deep eyes roved alertly as they walked through the
great swarm of light-flecks. He pointed to the soft lines of green light that delineated the snaking frontiers
of the Terran Empire, and Orion Empire, and all the kingdoms beyond.

Valdez stopped, and his hand stretched out like the hand of a god as he pointed over the tiny stars to a
region at the galaxy edge that had no lines of delineation.

"The Marches of Outer Space,тАЭ he said. тАЬNo kingdom out there owns them. None of the star-kings there