"E. E. Doc Smith - Lensman 1 - Triplanetary" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

CHAPTER 16 - SUPER-SHIP IN ACTION..138

CHAPTER 17 - ROGER CARRIES ON..147
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CHAPTER 18 - THE SPECIMENS ESCAPE.159

CHAPTER 19 - GIANTS MEET..170



BOOK ONE

DAWN

CHAPTER 1 - ARISIA AND EDDORE

Two thousand million or so years ago two galaxies were colliding; or, rather; were passing through each
other. A couple of hundreds of millions of years either way do not matter, since at least that much time
was required for the inter-passage. At about that same time-within the same plus or minus ten percent
margin of error, it is believed practically all of the suns of both those galaxies became possessed of
planets.

There is much evidence to support the belief that it was not merely a coincidence that so many planets
came into being at about the same time as the galactic inter- passage. Another school of thought holds
that it was pure coincidence; that all suns have planets as naturally and as inevitably as cats have kittens.

Be that as it may, Arisian records are clear upon the point that before the two galaxies began to
coalesce, there were never more than three solar systems present in either; and usually only one. Thus,
when the sun of the planet upon which their race originated grew old and cool, the Arisians were hard put
to it to preserve their culture, since they had to work against time in solving the engineering problems
associated with moving a planet from an older to a younger sun.

Since nothing material was destroyed when the Eddorians were forced into the next plane of existence,
their historical records also have become available. Those records-folios and tapes and playable discs of
platinum alloy, resistant indefinitely even to EddoreтАЩs noxious atmosphere agree with those of the Arisians
upon this point.

Immediately before the Coalescence began there was one, and only one, planetary solar system in the
Second Galaxy; and, until the advent of Eddore, the Second Galaxy was entirely devoid of intelligent life.

Thus for millions upon untold millions of years the two races, each the sole intelligent life of a galaxy,
perhaps of an entire space-time continuum, remained completely in ignorance of each other. Both were
already ancient at the time of the Coalescence. The only other respect in which the two were similar,
however, was in the possession of minds of power.