"Jeffrey D. Kooistra - Dykstra's War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kooistra Jeffrey D)

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/KOOISTRA...EFFREY%20-%20DYKSTRA'S%20WAR/0671319582___1.htm (3 of 32)29-12-2006 18:58:26
 - Chapter 1

He sat down in his favorite chair, looking out the window past the meadow and into the distance where
the sun was creeping toward the horizon, and reminiscedтАФthe old man's entertainment.

He remembered those wild days in college, before the Collapse early in the 21st century, with his friends
Jamie and Jenny. Ah, JennyтАФshe'd written his biography. In a way, she'd loved him, and he, her, though
it had gone unconsummated. And then the Collapse years, the desperation, and the Moon Rush
following, when he'd been instrumental in getting people to return to space to stay. He recalled his
meeting with Paul McAndrew, the first Protestant saint. The man had shaken his hand, then looked at
him funny, and said, "You are James Christian Dykstra, and through you God will give Man the stars."
The memory still sent shivers through him.

The prophecy had come true, after a fashion. Dykstra field physics had made possible so many dreams
of science fiction. Force shields, artificial gravity, repulsor beams, cheap fusionтАФall of these had
resulted from his genius. With his inventions and his physics had come new weapons, weapons that the
Belt was now using against the Solar Union. He felt bad about that. But humans will be humans.

Still, if mankind reached the stars, it would be by leaping off his giant shoulders, even if he wouldn't be
around to see it.

He sighed.

Rousing himself from his memories, and from his chair, he went into the kitchen.

A package sat on the table, a System Patrol courier container. There was a spot for a thumbprint on the
top. If the spot was coded for his print, the package would open at his touch. If not, high explosives
would detonate, taking out him and the house, too.

He placed his thumb on the pad without hesitation.

The hemispherical endcaps of the container slowly separated, then the middle section split at the top and
folded out. Inside was a data cube and a decidedly odd-looking implement, which reminded Dykstra of a
hand weapon, though it wouldn't fit a hand properly. A tube projected from one end of the thing, out of
the main bulk of two ten-centimeter diameter spheres and a heavy, padded loopтАФa handle, perhaps.

Dykstra left the implement in the container and took the data cube to his terminal. The cube booted and
he redirected the output to his TV screen, which covered half the north wall. A man in a major's uniform
appeared. "Hello, Professor Dykstra. I am Major Gerald Moore of System Patrol Intelligence. Within
this cube you will find all the data we've been able to wrestle out of the device in the courier container.
It's extremely dangerous, so I'd recommend that you follow the operating instructions our scientists were
able to come up with before handling it. We lost a man finding out how to work the thing.

"The device is a weapon of extraterrestrial manufacture. That's right, we've encountered aliens. That fact

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/KOOISTRA...EFFREY%20-%20DYKSTRA'S%20WAR/0671319582___1.htm (4 of 32)29-12-2006 18:58:26
 - Chapter 1