"Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Reflex" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niven Larry)

little wars, and those had died into battles. Throughout human space there were
planets with no civilization, and many more with too little to support space travel.
Even Sparta had been hurt. She had lost her fleets, but the dying ships had
defended the Capital; and when Sparta began to recover, she recovered fast.
Across human space men had discovered the secrets of interstellar travel. The
technology of the Langston Field was stored away in a score of Imperial libraries; and
this was important because the Field was discovered in the first place through a series
of improbable accidents to men in widely separated specialties. It would not have
been developed again.
With Langston Field and Alderson Drive, the Second Empire rose from the ashes
of the First. Every man in the new government knew that weakness in the First
Empire had led to warтАФand that war must not happen again. This time all humanity
must be united. There must be no worlds outside the Imperium, and none within it to
challenge the power of Emperor and Senate. Mankind would have peace if worlds
must die to bring it about.
The oath was sworn, and when other worlds built merchantmen, Sparta rebuilt
the Fleet and sent it to space. Under the fanatical young men and women humanity
would be united by force. The Empire spread around Crucis and once again reached
behind the Coal Sack, persuading, cajoling, conquering and destroying where needed.
New Chicago had been one of the first worlds reunited with the Empire of Man.
The revolt must have come as a stunning surprise. Now Captain Herb Colvin of the
United Republic waited on blockade patrol for the EmpireтАЩs retaliation. He knew it
would come, and could only hope that Defiant would be ready.
He sat in the enormous leather chair behind his desk, swirling his drink and
letting his gaze alternate between his wifeтАЩs picture and the viewport. The chair was a
memento from the liberation of the Governor GeneralтАЩs palace on New Chicago. (On
Union!) It was made of imported leathers, worth a fortune if he could find the right
buyer. The Committee of Public Safety hadnтАЩt realized its value.
Colvin looked from GraceтАЩs picture to a pinkish star drifting upward past the
viewport, and thought of the EmpireтАЩs warships. Would they come through here,
when they came? Surely they were coming.
In principal Defiant was a better ship than sheтАЩd been when she left New
Chicago. The engineers had automated all the routine spacekeeping tasks, and no
United Republic spacer needed to do a job that a robot could perform. Like all of New
ChicagoтАЩs ships, and like few of the Imperial NavyтАЩs, Defiant was as automated as a
merchantman.
Colvin wondered. Merchantmen do not fight battles. A merchant captain need not
worry about random holes punched through his hull. He can ignore the risk that any
given piece of equipment will be smashed at any instant. He will never have only
minutes to keep his ship fighting or see her destroyed in an instant of blinding heat.
No robot could cope with the complexity of decisions damage control could
generate, and if there were such a. robot it might easily be the first item destroyed in
battle. Colvin had been a merchant captain and had seen no reason to object to the
RepublicтАЩs naval policies, but now that he had experience in warship command, he
understood why the Imperials automated as little as possible and kept the crew in
working routine tasks:
washing down corridors and changing air filters, scrubbiig pots and inspecting
the hull. Imperial crews might grumble about the work, but they were never idle.
After six months, Defiant was a better ship, but.. . she had lifted out from. . . Union
with a crew of mission-oriented warriors. What were they n├│w?