"E. E. Doc Smith - Lensman 7 - Masters Of The Vortex" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

'Too chancey. Dead tissues change too much. You weren't courting investigation then; now we are. We've got to keep our
noses clean. How about this? They couldn't wait any longer and got married today. You, big-hearted philanthropist that you
are, told them they could take their two weeks vacation now for a honeymoonтАФyou'd square it with their department
heads. They come back in about ten days, to get settled; go up the valley to see the vortex; and out. Anything in that set-up
we can't fake a cover for.'
'It looks perfect to me. We'll let 'em enjoy life for ten days, right where they are now. Hear that, Ryder?'
'Yes, you pot-bellied ...'
The fat man snapped a switch.
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It is not necessary to go into the details of the imprisonment. Doggedly and skillfully though he tried, Ryder could open up
no avenue of escape or of communication; and Jacqueline, facing the inevitability of death, steadied down to meet it. She
was a woman. In minor crises she had shrieked and had hidden her face and had fainted: but in this ultimate one she drew
from the depths of her woman's soul not only the power to overcome her own weakness, but also an extra something with
which to sustain and fortify her man.
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4: 'Storm' Cloud on Deka
In the vortex control laboratory on Tellus, Cloud had just gone into Philip Strong's office.
'No trouble?' the Lensman asked, after greetings had been exchanged.
'Uh-huh. Simple as blowing out a match. You quit worrying about me long ago, didn't you?"
'Pretty much, except for the impossibility of training anybody else to do it. We're still working on that angle, though.
You're looking fit.'
He was. He carried no scarsтАФthe Phillips treatment had taken care of that. His face looked young and keen; his hard-
schooled, resilient body was in surprisingly fine condition for that of a , man crowding forty so nearly. He no longer wore
his psychic trauma visibly; it no longer obtruded itself between him and those with whom he worked; but in his own mind
he was sure that it still was, and always would be, there. But the Lensman, studying him narrowlyтАФand, if the truth must
be known, using his Lens as wellтАФwas not sure, and was well content.
'Not bad for an old man, Phil. I could whip a wildcat, and spot him one bite and two scratches. But what I came in here for,
as you may have suspected, isтАФwhere do I go from here? Spica or Rigel or Canopus? They're the worst, aren't they?'
'Rigel's is probably the worst in property damage and urgency. Before we decide, though, I wish you'd take a good look at
this data from Dekanore III. See if you see what I do.'
'Huh? Dekanore III?' Cloud was surprised. 'No trouble there, is there? They've only got one, and it's 'way down in Class Z
somewhere.'
'Two now. It's the new one I'm talking about. It's acting funnyтАФdamned funny.'
Cloud went through the data, brow furrowed in concentration; then sketched three charts and frowned,
'I see what you mean. "Damned funny" is right. The toxicity is too steady, but at the same time the composition of the
effluvium is too varied. Inconsistent. However, there's no real attempt at a gamma analysisтАФnowhere near enough data for
oneтАФthis could be right; they're so utterly unpredictable. The
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observers were inexperienced, I take it, with medical and chemical bias?"
'Check. That's the way I read it.'
'Well, I'll say this muchтАФI never saw a gamma chart that would accept half of this stuff, and I can't even imagine what the
sigma curve would look like. Boss, what say I skip over there and get us a full reading on that baby before she goes
orthodox тАФor, should I say, orthodoxly unorthodox?'
'However you say it, that's my thought exactly; and we have a good exuse for giving it priority. It's killing more people
than all three of the bad ones together.'
'If I can't fix the toxicity with exciters I'll throw a solid cordon around it to keep people away. I won't blow it out, though,
until I find out why it's acting soтАФif it is. Clear ether, chief, I'm practically there!'
It did not take long to load Cloud's flitter aboard a Dekanore-bound liner. Half-way there however, an alarm rang out and
the dread word 'Pirates!' resounded through the ship.
Consternation reigned, for organized piracy had disappeared with the fall of the Council of Boskone. Furthermore, this was