"A. E. Van Vogt - The Rat & the Snake & Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

well back. His eyes shone as from an inner fire.
He stopped as he came to the screen, reached out and
touched it with his fingers. It flared, blurred with changing
colours. The colours grew brighter, and extended in an intri-
cate pattern all the way from his head to the ground. The
blur cleared. The pattern faded into invisibility. The man was
through the screen.
He laughed, a soft curious sound; then sobered. "When I
first awakened," he said, "I was curious about the situation.
The question was, what should I do with you?"
The words had a fateful ring to Enash on the still morning
air of that planet of the dead. A voice broke the silence, a
voice so strained and unnatural that a moment passed before
he recognized it as belonging to Captain Gorsid.
"Kill him!"
When the blasters ceased their effort, the unkillable thing
remained standing. He walked slowly forward until he was
only a half dozen feet from the nearest Ganae. Enash had a
position well to the rear. The man said slowly:
"Two courses suggest themselves, one based on gratitude
for reviving me, the other based on reality. I know you for
what you are. Yes, know youand that is unfortunate. It is
hard to feel merciful. To begin with," he went on, "let us
suppose you surrender the secret of the locator. Naturally,
now that a system exists, we shall never again be caught as we
were."
Enash had been intent, his mind so alive with the potenti-
alities of the disaster that was here that it seemed impossible
that he could think of anything else. And yet, a part of his
attention was stirred now. "What did happen?" he asked.
The man changed colour. The emotions of that far day thick-
ened his voice. "A nucleonic storm. It swept in from outer
space. It brushed this edge of our galaxy. It was about nine-
ty light-years in diameter, beyond the farthest limit of our
power. There was no escape from it. We had dispensed with
spaceships, and had no time to construct any. Castor, the
only star with planets ever discovered by us, was also in the
path of the storm." He stopped. "The secret?" he said.
Around Enash, the councillors were breathing easier. The
fear of race destruction that had come to them was lifting.
Enash saw with pride that the first shock was over, and they
were not even afraid for themselves.
"Ah," said Yoal softly, "you don't know the secret. In spite
of all your great development, we alone can conquer the
galaxy." He looked at the others, smiling confidently. "Gentle-
men," he said, "our pride in a great Ganae achievement is
justified. I suggest we return to our ship. We have no further
business on this planet."
There was a confused moment while their bubbles formed,
when Enash wondered if the two-legged one would try to stop