"E. E. Doc Smith - The Galaxy Primes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

an atomic-warheaded rocket came flaming up.
'Hmmm... Ingenious little gadget, at that,' James reported, after studying it thoroughly. 'Filthy thing for fall-out,
though, if it goes off. Where'll I flip it, Clee? One of their moons?'
'Yes. Third one out - no chance of any contamination from there.'
The missile vanished; and had any astronomer been looking at the world's third and outermost moon at the moment,
he might have seen a tremendous flare of light, a cloud of dust, and the formation of a new and different crater
among the
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hundreds already there.'
'No use waiting for 'em, Jim. All three of you toss everything they've got out onto that same moon, being sure not to
hurt anybody - yet. I'll start asking questions.'
The captain who had fired the first missile appeared in the Main. He reached for his pistol, to find that he did not
have one. He tensed his muscles to leap at Garlock, and found that he could not move.
Garlock drove his probe: 'Who is your superior officer?' Before the man could form a mind-shield, that superior
stood helpless beside him.
Then three ... and four. At the fifth:
'Ah, you are the man I want. Prime Minister - euphemism for Dictator - Sovig. Missile launching stations and missile
storage? You don't know? Who does?'
Another man appeared, and for twenty minutes the Pleiades darted about the continent.
'Now submarines, atomic and otherwise, and all surface vessels capable of launching missiles.' Another man
appeared.
This job took a little longer, since the crew of each vessel had to be teleported back to its base. An immense scrap-
pile, probably visible with a telescope of even moderate power, built up rapidly on the third moon.
'Now a complete list of your uranium-refining plants, your military reactors, heavy-water and heavy-hydrogen plants,
and so on.' Another man appeared, but the starship did not move.
'Here is a list of plants,' said Garlock coldly, and named them. 'You will remember them. I will return you to your
office and you may - or may not, as you please - order them evacuated. Look at your watch. We start destroying
them in exactly seventy-two of your hours from this moment. Any and all persons on the properties will be killed;
any within a radius of ten of your miles may be killed. Our explosives are extremely powerful, but there is no
radioactivity and no danger from the fallout. The danger is from flash-blindness, flash-burn, sheer heat, shock-wave,
concussion and flying debris of all kinds.'
The officer vanished and Garlock turned back to the Prime Minister.
'You have an ally, a nation known as the "Brotherhood of
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Peoples' Republics". Where is its capital? Slide us over there, Jim. Now, Prime Minister Sovig, you and your ally,
the second and first most populous nations of your world, are combining to destroy - a pincers movement, let us say?
- the third largest nation, or rather, group of nations: the Nations of the North ... Oh, I see. Third only in population,
but first in productive capacity and technology. They should be destroyed because their ideology does not agree with
yours. They are too idealistic to strike first, so you will. After you strike, they will not be able to. Whereupon you,
personally, will rule the world. I will add to that something you are not thinking, but should: You will rule it until
one of your friends puts his pistol to the back of your neck and blows your brains out.'
They were now over the ally's capital - which launched three missiles instead of one. Garlock collected four more
men and studied them.
'Just as bad. If possible, worse. Who, Lingonor, is the leader of your opposition, if any?' Another man, very evidently
of the same race, appeared.
'Idealistic, in a way, but spineless and corrupt,' Garlock announced to all. 'His administration was one of the most
corrupt ever known on this world. We'll disarm them, too.'
They did. The operation did not take very long, as this nation, while very high in manpower, was very low in
technology.
The starship moved to a station high above the Capitol Building of the Nations of the North and moved slowly