"H. Beam Piper - Federation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

and who governed through and with the consent of a legislature.

What about the expansion of the Federation (as Piper did, we will now
drop the needless appellation "Second") into intergalactic space?

Again in "The Edge of the Knife" we find the answer: "And when Mars
and Venus are colonized, there will be the same historic situations, at least
in general shape, as arose when the European powers were colonizing the
New Worlds or, for that matter, when the Greek city-states were throwing
out colonies across the Aegean." Later in that story he compares the early
Federation with the Spanish Conquest. And, as we discussed earlier, we
have events like the Uller Uprising and the Loki Enslavement which sound
like events from our own past.

Since most of these stories, with the exception of "Graveyard of
Dreams," are concerned with man's conquest of new worlds, I will leave it
up to you to draw further conclusions about the Federation's subjugation
of space as you enjoy the following yarns.
John Carr
Introduction to "Omnilingual"
In The Science Fiction Encyclopedia John Clute, British sf scholar
noted for his reviews in the English journal Foundation, states that
"Omnilingual" is probably H. Beam Piper's best short story. It may be
one of Piper's best known and most anthologized, but I'm not certain it is
his best as there are several other very good stories just in this collection
alone. I'm sure you will have your own favorite. "Omnilingual" is
however a powerful story about unlocking the key to an ancient and
unknown civilization and, even if the Viking landers have made Beam's
Mars somewhat suspect, no one can fault his anthropology and
cryptography.

"Omnilingual" takes place in 54 A.E. and is the first story in Piper's
TerroHuman Future History to take place after the founding of the First
Federation. In this story Piper shows another of his unrecognized
strengths: the creation of a strong central woman character, long before
it became politically expedient.

OMNILINGUAL
Martha Dane paused, looking up at the purple-tinged copper sky. The
wind had shifted since noon, while she had been inside, and the dust
storm that was sweeping the high deserts to the east was now blowing out
over Syrtis. The sun, magnified by the haze, was a gorgeous magenta ball,
as large as the sun of Terra, at which she could look directly. Tonight,
some of that dust would come sifting down from the upper atmosphere to
add another film to what had been burying the city for the last fifty
thousand years.

The red loess lay over everything, covering the streets and the open
spaces of park and plaza, hiding the small houses that had been crushed
and pressed flat under it and the rubble that had come down from the tall