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

alike or of exactly equal ability; perfect identity of any two such complex structures was in fact
impossible, and any difference, however slight, was ample justification for stratification in such a society
as theirs.

Thus one of them, fractionally more powerful and more ruthless than the rest, became the
All-Highest-His Ultimate Supremacy-and a group of about a dozen others, only infinitesimally weaker,
became his Council; a cabinet which was later to become known as the Innermost Circle. The tally of this
cabinet varied somewhat from age to age; increasing by one when a member divided, decreasing by one
when a jealous fellow or an envious underling managed to perpetrate a successful assassination.

And thus, at long last, the Eddorians began really to work together. There resulted, among other things,
the hyper-spatial tube and the fully inertialess drive - the drive which was, millions of years later, to be
given to Civilization by an Arisian operating under the name of Bergenholm. Another result, which
occurred shortly after the galactic interpassage had begun, was the eruption into normal space of the
planet Eddore.

тАЬI must now decide whether to make this space our permanent headquarters or to search farther,тАЭ the
All-Highest radiated harshly to his Council. тАЬOn the one hand, it will take some time for even those
planets which have already formed to cool. Still more will be required far life to develop sufficiently to
form a part of the empire which we have planned or to occupy our abilities to any great degree. On the
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other, we have already spent millions of years in surveying hundreds of millions of continua, without
having found anywhere such a profusion of planets as will, in all probability, soon fill both of these
galaxies. There may also be certain advantages inherent in the fact that these planets are not yet
populated. As life develops, we can mold it as we please.

Krongenes, what are your findings in regard to the planetary possibilities of other spaces?тАЭ

The term тАЬKrongenesтАЭ was not, in the accepted sense, a name. Or, rather, it was more than a name. It
was a key thought, in mental shorthand - a condensation and abbreviation of the life-pattern or ego of
that particular Eddorian.

тАЬNot at all promising, Your Supremacy,тАЭ Krongenes replied promptly. тАЬNo space within reach of my
instruments has more than a small fraction of the inhabitable worlds which will presently exist in this one.тАЭ

тАЬVery well. Have any of you others any valid objections to the establishment of our empire here in this
space? If so, give me your thought now.тАЭ

No objecting thoughts appeared, since none of the monsters then knew anything of Arisia or of the
Arisians. Indeed, even if they had known, it is highly improbable , that any objection would have been
raised. First, because no Eddorian, from the All-Highest down, could conceive or would under any
circumstances admit that any race, anywhere, had ever approached or ever would approach the
Eddorians in any quality whatever; and second, because, as is routine in all dictatorships, disagreement
with the All-Highest did not operate to lengthen the span of life.

тАЬVery well. We will now confer as to . . . but hold! That thought is not one of ours!