"Otis Adelbert Kline - Man from the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kline Otis Adelbert)

all her lands and seas.
and man, the greatest mammal of them all, was
When I was born, Crown Prince of Magong,
slowly battling his way to world supremacy with
my people had reached an advanced state of
crude weapons and implements of wood and stone.
civilization, for much can be accomplished in a
On my return to Magong, after visiting the
million historical years. For more than ten
inner planets, I importuned my father to permit me
thousand years, Magong had been in
6
Otis Adelbert Kline Man from the Moon Amazing Stories, October, 1930

to visit Jupiter. This he flatly refused to do. The demand their release or fight, but was met half way
trip, he said, was too long and dangerous for one of by a fleet of Martian warships.
my years. Furthermore, only one, out of a thousand

T
of our most skillful and experienced navigators, HE contest that ensued was short and
who had attempted the trip, had returned to tell of disastrous. My fleet used the cold, energy-
it. I had to be content, therefore, with several trips decreasing green ray of condensation, which
to Mars, where I, as Crown Prince of Magong, was we had developed тАУ the enemy fleet, the hot,
always received with such pomp and splendor that energy-increasing red ray of dispersion. We had
I wished I might be permitted to go incognito and developed our inter-rotating green rays to such a
mingle with the common people тАУ but even this degree that any substance touched by them would
small pleasure was denied me. contract to less than one-hundredth of its normal
At twenty-five, I was made commander-in- size with a corresponding increase in density. The
chief of MagongтАЩs interplanetary navies. Shortly toughest metals, under this ray, would become as
thereafter, trouble developed between my father brittle as egg shells and more dense than pure lead.
and Lido Kan, Supreme Ruler of Mars. It seems The effect of the red rays of the Martians was
that a number of Martians, jealous of the economic the opposite, but fully as devastating, as these rays,
progress made by our colonists on that planet, had rotating in receding spirals, tore the atoms apart on
gone to Lido Kan with tales of woe, insisting that contact, making the heaviest metals less dense than
they be deported. So strong was the pressure they the atmosphere in an instant. When a green ray met
brought to bear on him, that he finally took the a red ray of equal intensity, they neutralized each
matter up with my father. The reply of my father other.
was courteous, but firm. He insisted that if his By superior maneuvering, I managed to wipe
people were to be deported from Mars, the Martian out the last Martian battleship when I had lost all
colony must also leave Magong. Lido Kan argued but the flagship of my fleet. This had been badly
that his people had created no disturbance on crippled by a red ray, and after making temporary
Magong, and no dissension among the subjects of repairs, I limped sadly back to port.
my father, which was true enough, and my father On the face of my father, when I reported to
naturally retorted that his subjects were too him in the throne room that day, was a look,
courteous to even think of bringing up such a sterner than any
matter. I had ever seen him wear.
One word led to another, and things went тАЬMy son,тАЭ he said. тАЬWar is a terrible thing тАУ
from bad to worse, until a group of Martians the worst affliction that can come to humanity тАУ
attacked and massacred the inhabitants of one of but it is at hand and we must meet it like men. The
our settlements. My father instantly demanded an Martians have made a start by wiping out our