"Smith, E E 'Doc' - SubSpace Vol 2 - Subspace Encounter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)Slaar, you know; he was a young man then and able to think a little gave my father a
status rating of Forty-Seven, a grudging go ahead, and a small appropriation to found an `Institute for Advanced Study.' When my father died, I took over, and we kept on working. Surreptitiously, until now, when I'm adding you new members to our staff." Rodnar's face darkened, his thoughts turned bitter. "And that's what we still are. No hint whatever; ever; of our real abilities or of what we can do and should be doing, or we feed the eagles. If the damned old fathead glumpfs would only." "Damp it down, Rod!" Manjyl broke in. "If just one bit of that squampf ever gets out you'll certainly be eaglemeat." "Not a chance, Marr." The man's sober mien lightened. "I'm awake. They're too stupid-no, not stupid; impervious. And if, some day, one of the meatheads does get a sudden rush of intelligence to the brain and sets their damned Purps on us, I'll see to it that nonmagnetic storms blow all their transistors out of all the rigs they can set up. Okay." "Okay." "To get on with it, our results to date have been veree ungood. We finally analyzed the stuff-it's a new type of energy, originating in the fourth dimension and completely unknown to any planet of explored space-and we've built counter-generators-generators of a force to neutralize it. However, to put it mildly, space is big; subspace is bigger, and we don't know much of anything about the fourth dimension. So, while we have managed to destroy a few of the generators of X-storms, we don't average one in two years and no wreckage has ever been found. believe in psionics at all; and, to the extent that they're forced to, they're afraid of us. And jealous--of anything we may have that they haven't got. So, Admittedly we haven't done much; but nobody else has done anything at all. The Council of Science tried to write off our successes as due purely to chance, but their statisticians couldn't get anywhere with that. Hence, for that and certain other reasons, we're here-along with some not-too-subtle hints that if I don't produce I'll be considered an ex-citizen and eaglemeat. "That hits the high spots to date. Now. I know that the energy originates in the fourth dimension. I think that it is not a natural phenomenon, but is a product of parascience- psionics-and of technology. I infer that it is produced by generators designed and built by a race of highly intelligent entities, at least some of whom are psiontists. Not ordinary psychics or mystics, but highly-skilled, highly-trained psiontists; experts of at least our own grade. I deduce that there exists, somewhere, hitherto completely unsuspected, such a race. I conclude nothing, as yet. I request full and frank opinions from all of you. Sonjormel Wayrec of Garsh, you seem anxious to be heard; over to you." Wayrec-a burly, black-haired, reddish-brown skinned, hawknosed man of thirty, the only Garshan in the Institutecame in without a moment's pause. "You have of course considered the point as to whether or not these X-storms are deliberately inimical." "I have. They may be. They may, much more probably, be accidental. Incidental, rather; |
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