"H. Beam Piper - Graveyard of Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

"Wait a minute, gentlemen." He finished the brandy, and held out the glass to Tom Brangwyn, nodding
toward the pitcher. Even the first drink had warmed him and he could feel the constriction easing in his throat
and the lump at the pit of his stomach dissolving. "I hope none of you expect me to spread out a map and
show you the cross on it, where the Brain is. I can't. I can't even give the approximate location of the thing."

Much of the happy eagerness drained out of the faces around him. Some of them were looking troubled;
Colonel Zareff was gnawing the bottom of his mustache, and Judge Ledue's hand shook as he tried to relight
his cigar. Conn stole a quick sideтИТglance at his father; Rodney Maxwell was watching him curiously, as
though wondering what he was going to say next.

"But it is still here on Poictesme?" Fawzi questioned. "They didn't take it away when they evacuated, did
they?"

Conn finished his second drink. This time he picked up the pitcher and refilled for himself.

"I'm going to have to do a lot of talking," he said, "and it's going to be thirsty work. I'll have to tell you the
whole thing from the beginning, and if you start asking questions at random, you'll get me mixed up and I'll
miss the important points."

"By all means!" Judge Ledue told him. "Give it in your own words, in what you think is the proper order."

"Thank you, Judge."

Conn drank some more brandy, hoping he could get his courage up without getting drunk. After all, they had a
right to a full report; all of them had contributed something toward sending him to Terra.

"The main purpose in my going to the University was to learn computer theory and practice. It wouldn't do
any good for us to find the Brain if none of us are able to use it. Well, I learned enough to be able to operate,
program and service any computer in existence, and train assistants. During my last year at the University, I
had a partтИТtime paid job programming the big positronтИТneutrinoтИТphoton computer in the astrophysics
department. When I graduated, I was offered a position as instructor in positronic computer theory."

"You never mentioned that in your letters, son," his father said.

"It was too late for any letter except one that would come on the same ship I did. Beside, it wasn't very
important."

"I think it was." There was a catch in old Professor Kellton's voice. "One of my boys, from the Academy,
offered a place on the faculty of the University of Montevideo, on Terra!" He poured himself a second drink,
something he almost never did.

"Conn means it wasn't important because it didn't have anything to do with the Brain," Fawzi explained and
then looked at Conn expectantly.

All right; now he'd tell them. "I went over all the records of the Third FleetтИТArmy Force's occupation of
Poictesme that are open to the public. On one pretext or another, I got permission to examine the

Graveyard of Dreams 9
 Graveyard of Dreams
nonтИТclassified files that aren't open to public examination. I even got a few peeps at some of the stuff that's