"Phillip Francis Nowlan - Buck Rogers 01 - Armageddon 2419" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nowlan Philip Francis)

there ensued a long period of stagnation and desperate attempts at economic reconstruction. But it
was impossible to stave off war with the Mongolians, who by now had subjugated the Russians, and
were aiming at a world empire.
In about 2109, it seems the conflict was finally precipitated. The Mongolians, with overwhelming fleets
of great airships, and a science that far outstripped that of crippled America, swept in over the Pacific
and Atlantic Coasts, and down from Canada, annihilating American aircraft, armies and cities with
their ferrific distntegrator ray. These rays were projected from a machine not unnlike a searchlight in
appearance, the reflector of which, however, was not material substance, but a complicated
balance of interaeting electronic forces. This resulted in a terribly destructive beam. Under its
influence, material substance melted into "nothingness"; i.e., into electronic vibrations. It destroyed all
then known substances, from air to the most dense metals and stone.
They settled down to the establishment of what became known as the Han dynasty in America, as a
sort of province in their World Empire.
Those were terrible days for the Americans. They were hunted like wild beasts. Only those survived
who finally found refuge in mountains, canyons and forests. Government was at an end among them.
Anarchy prevailed for several generations. Most would have been eager to Submit to the Hans, even
if it meant slavery. But the Hans did not want them, for they themselves had marvelous machinery and
scientific process by which all difficult labor was accomplished.
Ultimately they stopped their active search for, and anmhilabon of the widely scattered groups of now
savage Americans. So long as Americans remained hidden hatheir forests, and did not venture near
the great cities the Hans had built, little attention was paid to them.
Then began the building of the new American civilization Families and individuals gathered together in
clans or 'gangs" for mutual protection. For nearly a century they lived a: nomadic and primitive life,
moving from place to place, in desperate fear of the casual and occasional Han air raids, and the terrible
disintegrator ray. As the frequency of these raids decreased, they began to stay permanently in given
localities, organizing upon lines which in many respects were similar to those of the military households of
the Norman feudal barons. However, instead of gathering together in castles, American defense tactics
necessitated a certain scattering. of living quarters for families and individuals. They lived virtually in the
open air, in the forests, in green tents, resorting to camouflage tactics that would conceal their presence
from air observers. They dug underground factories and laboratories that they might better be shielded
from the electronic detectors of the Hans. They tapped the radio communication lines of the Hans, with
crude instruments at first, better ones later on. They bent every effort toward the redevelopment of
science. For many generations they labored as unseen, unknown scholars of the Hans, picking up their
knowledge piecemeal.
During the earlier part of this period, there were many deadly wars fought between the various gangs,
and occasional courageous but childishly futile attacks upon the Hans, followed by terribly punitive
raids.
But as knowledge progressed, the sense of American brotherhood redeveloped. Reciprocal
arrangements were made among the gangs over constantly increasing areas. Trade developed to a
certain extent, between one gang and another; but the interchange of knowledge became more
important than that of goods as skill in the handling of synthetic processes developed.
Within the gang, an economy was developed that was a compromise between individual liberty and a
military socialism. The right of private property was limited practically to personal possessions, but
private privileges were many, and sacredly regarded. Stimulation to achievement lay chiefly in the
winning of various kinds of leadeship and prerogatives. There could be only a very limited degree of
owning anything that might be classified as "wealth," and nothing that might be classified as
"resources." Resources of every description, for military safety and efficiency, belonged as a matter of
 public interest to the community as a whole.
In the meantime, through these many generations, the Hans had developed a luxury economy. The
Americans were regarded as "wild men of the woods." And since the Hans neither needed nor wanted