"Timothy Zahn - Spinneret" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

"The Ctencri have direct contact with nine others. The existence of seventeen
more is known secondhand. We believe there to be many others."

The Russians didn't believe it, of course. Neither, to a lesser extent, did the
Americans and the Europeans. The star ships were sent out again, in new
directions. And again. And again.



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Zahn, Timothy - Spinneret


Eventually, they were all convinced.

"So this is it," Saleh said, leaning back in his chair and gazing out the window at
the lights of New York. They were glowing brightly, as usual, and the Yemeni felt
his usual twinge of anger. The work at Oak Ridge and Princeton in the last century
had guaranteed that the United States, at least, would not starve for energy for a
long time to come тАж but the rest of the world still waited for the promised sharing
of that technology.

Someone cleared his throat, and Saleh shifted his attention back to the five heads
of state he'd invited to this meeting. "This makes no sense at all," Japanese Prime
Minister Nagata said, laying down a copy of the report. "An Earth-type world
complete with water and a breathable atmosphere and no metals! That's absurd."

"I only know what the Ctencri said," Saleh said, shrugging. "It's because the
planet hasn't got any metals that we've even got a chance at itтАФotherwise the
Rooshrike would have found a use for the place long ago."

"Could this be some sort of elaborate trap?" Premier Sing of the People's Republic
asked. "I understand the Rooshrike are the ones who fired on the Celeritas."

"According to the Ctencri, the Rooshrike simply act impulsively at times," Saleh
told him. "Apparently, they jumped to the wrong conclusion when the Celeritas
didn't give the proper identification signals. I've been assured that's all
straightened out now."

"Less likely a trap than a swindle," Russia's Liadov rumbled. "How much would
the Rooshrike and the Ctencri want for this worthless lump of mud?"

"Nothing humans can live on is completely worthless," President Allerton said
mildly, a soft gleam in his eye.

The Russian snorted.

"The cost actually isn't that bad," Saleh said. "It would come out to eighty million
dollars' worth of certain relatively rare elementsтАФthe list of acceptable purity