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

Frantically they relayed orders to the skeletons; orders which did not affect
the losses.

"Brain-pans will blacken for this . . ." a mental snarl began, to be
interrupted by a coldly
imperious thought.

"That long-dead unit, so inexplicably reactivated, is approaching the fuel
world. It is
ignoring the battle. It is heading through our fleet toward the Oman half . . .
handle it,
ten eighteen !"

"It does not respond, Your Loftiness."

"Then blast it, fool! Ah, it is inactivated. As encyclopedist, Nine, explain
the freakish
behavior of that unit."

"Yes, Your Loftiness. Many cycles ago we sent a ship against the Omans with a
new
device of destruction. The Omans must have intercepted it, drained it of power
and al-

lowed it to drift on. After all these cycles of time it must have come upon a
small source
of power and of course continued its mission."

"That can be the truth. The Lords of the Universe must be informed."

"The mining units, the carriers and the refiners have not been affected, Your
Loftiness,"
a meth radiated.

"So I see, fool." Then, activating another instrument, His Loftiness thought at
it, in an
entirely different vein, "Lord Ynos, Madam? I have to make a very grave report .
..

In the Perseus, four scientists and three Navy officers were arguing heatedly;
employing deep-space verbiage not to be found in any dictionary. "Jarve!" Karns
called
out, and Hilton joined the group. "Does anything about this planet make any
sense to
you?"

"No. But you're the planetographer. 'Smatter with it?" "It's a good three
hundred
degrees Kelvin too hot." "Well, you know it's loaded with uranexite."