"E. E. Doc Smith - Masters of Space" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

MASTER'S OF SPACE

By E.E. тАШDoc' Smith
First Published in Worlds of IF, Nov. 1961

Chapter 1

"But didn't you feel anything, Javo?" Strain was apparent in every line of
Tula's taut,
bare body. "Nothing at all?" "Nothing whatever." The one called Javo relaxed
from his
rigid concentration. "Nothing has changed. Nor will it." "That conclusion is
indefensible!"
Tula snapped. "With the promised return of the Masters there must and will be
changes. Didn't any of you feel anything?"

Her hot, demanding eyes swept the group; a group whose like, except for
physical
perfection, could be found in any nudist colony.

No one except Tula had felt a thing.

"That fact is not too surprising," Javo said finally. "You have the most
sensitive
receptors of us all. But are you sure?"

"I am sure. It was the thought-form of a living Master." "Do you think that the
Master
perceived your web?" "It is certain. Those who built us are stronger than we."
"That is
true. As they promised, then, so long and long ago, our Masters are returning
home to
us."

Jarvis Hilton of Terra, the youngest man yet to be assigned to direct any such
tremendous deep-space undertaking as Project Theta Orionis, sat in conference
with
his two seconds-in-command. Assistant Director Sandra Cummings, analyst-
synthesist
and semantician, was tall, blonde and svelte. Planetographer William Karns-a
black-haired, black-browed, black-eyed man of thirty-was third in rank of the
scientific
group.

"I'm telling you, Jarve, you can't have it both ways," Karns declared. "Captain
Sawtelle
is old-school Navy brass. He goes strictly by the book. So you've got to draw a
razor-sharp line; exactly where the Advisory Board's directive puts it. And next
time he
sticks his ugly puss across that line, kick his face in.