"Emil Petaja - Tramontane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Petaja Emil)

тАЬThere is earth at the bottom of the grow-tanks.тАЭ
 тАЬForget it. We must start then with Terra. That is where all the
UssiтАФall the Motherships, all the three hundred thousands of their perkele
coloniesтАФthat is where it all started. Terra is a small green world (or at
least once was), in a system fire-fed by Sol. It was on Terra that Ussi life
began, first crawling up out of the slimes and taking on many tiresome
shapes and forms until finally it developed a cunning predatory nature
and became Man. Of course Man never did learn the older more
fundamental secrets of the universe, related to what the Vanhat call gods,
but with the machinery he developed over the eras he didnтАЩt do half-bad.тАЭ

тАЬVanhat.тАЭ Kullero frowned. It was like something calling him out of a
dream, that name. Louhi had said it before, but this time, with his
body-cells less harassed, the two syllables meant something. тАЬOtava.тАЭ The
name caught in his throat.

тАЬSo! The memory is there, deep down in your cells. It will need dragging
out, of course. Tell me what the Vanhat are? Are they men?тАЭ

тАЬNo,тАЭ Kullervo blurted. тАЬThey are like men but they were born on Otava,
the Great Bear. They left Otava becauseтАФbecauseтАФтАЭ

The thread stuck. тАЬWhy did they leave, Mistress?тАЭ

тАЬNever mind,тАЭ Louhi said irritably. Every time the name Vanhat came
up she winced. To hear about them from someone else gorged up the
festering demand for vengeance that still stuck in her condorтАЩs craw. тАЬThe
Ussi developed their brains and their capacities for creating machines of
many kinds, but with all this something was lost. Something that seems
simple yet is actually as profound as the true rhythm of the universe itself.
Mostly they overpopulated themselves, out of some racial pride, into the
stars as far as their machines would take them. Far indeed, yet not far
enough. Their insatiable self-propagation brought them to All-Kill.тАЭ

тАЬAll-Kill?тАЭ

тАЬNiin. Their first centuries of star colonization were practically prudish.
They tried to make friends with the aliens they encountered, even while
shoving them off their own planets. There were wars. Frightful, beautiful
wars! I loved them! But it was not until the Ussi decided that All-Kill was
best that the fun and games really started. Wayne Panu, of Vanhat blood,
started it. Ironically, since the Vanhat detest all war and rapine. That was
why they concealed themselves in Underearth so long, so that the Ussi
would not discover the Power they possessed and use it to sweep the
universe clean of all life but theirs!

тАЬOh, they are clever, the Ussi! They make piteous excuses about how
their children must find homes! They must eat! They must copulate! They
must this and that! All-Kill took some time and guts working up to, but
they made it. Under All-Kill they sent their manships to any new