"Keith Laumer - Retief !" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laumer Keith)

Line was now one of the planet's biggest foreign-exchange earners.
***
Magnan had spoken of Northroyal's high industrial potential, and her well-trained civilian
corps of space navigators.
"The job of the Corps," Retief interrupted, "is to seek out and eliminate threats to the peace of
the Galaxy. How does a little story-book world like Northroyal get into the act?"
"More easily than you might imagine," Magnan said. "Here you have a close-knit society,
proud, conscious of a tradition of military power, empire. A clever rabble-rouser using the right
appeal would step into a ready-made situation there. It would take only an order on the part of the
planetary government to turn the factories to war production, and convert the merchant fleet into
a war fleetтАФand we'd be faced with a serious power imbalanceтАФa storm center."
"I think you're talking nonsense, Mr. Minister," Retief said bluntly. "They've got more sense
than that. They're not so far gone on tradition as to destroy themselves. They're a practical
people."
Magnan drummed his fingers on the desk top. "There's one factor I haven't covered yet," he
said. "There has been what amounts to a news blackout from Northroyal during the last six
months. . . ."
Retief snorted. "What news?"
Magnan had been enjoying the suspense. "Tourists have been having great difficulty getting
to Northroyal," he said. "Fragonard, the capital, is completely closed to outsiders. We managed,
however, to get an agent in." He turned, gazing at Retief. "It seems," he went on, "that the rightful
Emperor has turned up."
Retief narrowed his eyes. "What's that?" he said sharply.
Magnan drew back, intimidated by the power of Retief's tone, annoyed by his own reaction.
In his own mind, Magnan was candid enough to know that this was the real basis for his intense
dislike for his senior agent. It was an instinctive primitive fear of physical violence. Not that
Retief had ever assaulted anyone; but he had an air of mastery that made Magnan feel trivial.
"The Emperor," Magnan repeated. "The traditional story is that he was lost on the voyage to
Northroyal. There was a legend that he had slipped out of the hands of the Concordiat in order to
gather new support for a counteroffensive, hurl back the invader, all that sort of thing."
"The Concordiat collapsed of its own weight within a century," Retief said. "There's no
invader to hurl back. Northroyal is free and independent, like every other world."
"Of course, of course," Magnan said. "But you're missing the emotional angle, Retief. It's all
very well to be independent; but what about the dreams of empire, the vanished glory, destiny, et
cetera?"
"What about them?"
"That's all our agent heard; it's everywhere. The news strips are full of it. Video is playing it
up; everybody's talking it. The returned Emperor seems to be a clever propagandist; the next step
will be a full-scale mobilization. And we're not equipped to handle that."
"What am I supposed to do about all this?"
"Your orders are, and I quote, to proceed to Fragonard and there employ such measures as
shall be appropriate to negate the present trend toward an expansionist sentiment among the
populace." Magnan passed a document across the desk to Retief for his inspection.
***
The orders were brief, and wasted no wordage on details. As an officer of the Corps with the
rank of Counselor, Retief enjoyed wide latitude, and broad powersтАФand corresponding
responsibility in the event of failure. Retief wondered how this assignment had devolved on him,
among the thousands of Corps agents scattered through the Galaxy. Why was one man being
handed a case which on the face of it should call for a full mission?
"This looks like quite an undertaking for a single agent, Mr. Minister," Retief said.