"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 6 - The Purity plot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

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THE PURITY PLOT

Volume six of The classic Family d'Alembert series

By E.E. 'Doc' Smith
With Stephen Goldin


Chapter 1
The Glasseye Gang

The planet Glasseye was named for its appearance from space. Tuan Ho, the
scoutship pilot who discovered it, remembered his initial impression in an interview with
Imperial Newsworks Reelzine: "I came out of subspace and there it was, staring straight
at me=a large blue green ball with that one dark continent in the center. It looked for all
the universe like a glass eye being displayed on a piece of black velvet, with the stars
as a background to lend effect to the scene."

Since that discovery in 2374, the planet had been well explored and colonized, and its
name took on an extra significance. The one major continent was found to contain rich
deposits of a fine silicate mineral called fargerite, after its discoverer-that occurred
nowhere else in the galaxy; furthermore, this silicate produced some of the finest glass
ever made. "Glasseye glass" became renowned throughout the Empire, and no one
with any pretensions to culture would feel his collection of objets d'art complete without
several pieces. Producing, blowing, and exporting the glass became the planet's
leading industries, and the entire world thrived, basking in the glow of its reputation. So
abundant was the fargerite that the Glasseyers even used it as a construction material
for building their cities. When combined and fired in the proper way, it became a
substance stronger than steel, with the added advantage that it was more easily
recyclable. If one tired of it in one form, one could melt it down and reshape it into
something else with a minimum of trouble.

Glasseye cities therefore looked like fairy towers of crystalline perfection. Glass needles
rose into the sky, their walls refracting the sunlight into a million rainbow patterns. Glass
latticeworks connected the city in a transportation system of small, high-speed shuttles
that whisked people wherever they chose to go in a matter of minutes. The cities
presented an ever-changing face, as old portions were constantly being melted down
and replaced with newer, more modern-looking sections. Transience became ingrained
into the planetary character of the Glasseyers themselves; there was a joke common
throughout the Empire about a starving Glasseyer who was given a bowl of apples,
pears, and grapes, but died before he ate any-he was not quite satisfied with the
arrangement of the fruit in the bowl!

Visitors flocked to Glasseye from all over the galaxy to observe the breathtaking beauty
of Glasseyer cities. Tourism was Glasseye's second largest industry; the planet
represented an almost perfect visual paradise. But even paradise has its problems.

The group of masked figures had little trouble breaking into the new Imperial Trade