"Michael McCollum - Antares 03 - Antares victory" - читать интересную книгу автора (McCollum Michael)

to astronomers,AntaresтАЩ death had carried with itone consequencethat affected thelivesof everyoneon Alta . In
addition to vaporizing everything around it тАУ including the hapless ships and crewsthen in transit across the
Antares system тАУ thesupernovadisruptedstar travel throughout the region,cuttingAltaofffrom therest of human
space.
The invisiblepathways between the starsa re the result of longlines of folded space that emanate from
the gigantic black hole that inhabits the central core of the Milky Way Galaxy тАУ and indeed, all spiral
galaxies. These тАЬfoldlinesтАЭ weave intricate webs of folded space as they sweep outward along the spiral arms,
intersecting some stars while bypassing others. Where a foldline intersects a star, itis oftenfocused by the
starтАЩs gravity well to produce a тАЬweak spotтАЭ in the vacuum of space. Such weak spots are called тАЬfoldpoints,тАЭ
and within their planet-sized volumes, it is possible to produce a hole in space-time. A ship that positions
itself within a foldpoint and thengenerates aprecisely formedenergyfield will effectively drop out of the universe
and be flung instantly along the foldline to the next weak point, where it returns tonormal space without having
traversed the intervening distance.
For half a thousand years, humanityтАЩs ships had used foldlinesto circumvent EinsteinтАЩs universal speed
limit. Foldlines were the superhighways to the stars, with most stars possessing at least twofoldpoints, and
sometimes as many as four. Antares, in the days before its fiery death,had been the champion foldpoint
producer in human space. It possessed six of the gateways, making itthe major interstellar transportation
hubin the sector that boreitsname.
Valeria, AltaтАЩs star, possessed but a single foldpoint,a deficiency that made the Val System an
interstellar cul-de-sac. Of necessity, alltraffic to and from Valeria passedthrough the Napier System, from
which Altawasf irst colonized. That, at least, had been the situation before the AntaresS upernova. The titanic
explosion haddisrupted the foldline running through the Valsystem, causing AltaтАЩs single foldpoint to vanish
without a trace.
The loss of its sole gateway to the stars had plunged the Altan colony into a century of isolation. Nor
had the Altan scientists any expectation that the sudden blossoming of the supernova in their skytwelve
decadeslater would change the situation. In this, theyproved less than prescient.
For when Valeria finally pricked the surface of the supernovaтАЩs expanding bubble of radiation,the
geometry offoldspace underwent adramatic transformation. Having passed beyond the Val system, the
supernova shockwave no longerintersected the foldline running between the two stars, allowing AltaтАЩs
foldpointto formonce again highabovethe systemтАЩs yellow dwarf primary.The fact that Valeria was
oncemoreconnected to therest of human space might have gone unnoticed for several years had it not been
foran anomalous eventa few weeks after Antares flashed violet-white in AltaтАЩs sky. While studying the newly
revealed supernova,anorbitingtelescope picked up amysterious ship materializingin the vicinity of the
systemтАЩs long-lost foldpoint. Asastronomers watched openmouthed with amazement,the unidentified
shipturned towarddeepspace and began thrusting as though the legions of hell were chasing it.
Drakehad been a captain in the Altan Space Navy at the time. He had commandedASNS Discovery ,
one of the three old interstellar cruisers thatwerest randed in the system when Antares exploded. Shortly
after the appearance of the mysterious ship,the Admiralty orderedDrake to intercept the interloper at
maximum boost.
The chase was a difficult one conducted at high gravs the entire way. When they finallyoverhauled the
intruder, they found a ghost ship. TSNS Conqueror, one of the terrestrial space navyтАЩs mightiest
dreadnoughts,proved to be nothing more than an animated hulkmanned by a dead crew, with no indication of
what or who had killed them.
The discovery left the Altan government with a problem. On the one hand, the arrival ofConqueror
announced that the way to the stars was once again open. On the other, its condition was mute testimony to
dangerouscircumstances somewhere beyond their local sky. IfConqueror could have destroyed the whole of
the Altan Space Navy with little or no effort, yet had itself been battered to scrap metal by some unknown
enemy, what of those who had destroyed it? Were they AltaтАЩs friends or were they its foes?
Having asked the question, the government decided to send Richard Drake to find the answerтАж
тАЬTask Force coming into view, Admiral,тАЭ the pilot of the shuttle said from beside Drake.