"Alexander Kazantsev. The Destruction of Faena (ГИБЕЛЬ ФАЭНЫ, англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

annihilation alone must no longer be taken from the civilised world. Faena
could not exist like that!
Um Sat was thinking sadly about the same thing. He was reflecting that
the laws governing life of the whole community of the Faetians must
evidently be understood like the laws of nature. The most serious mistake,
apart from the discovery and promulgation of the means of disintegrating
matter, was that, having lived until old age, he did not understand those
laws. Why, for example, were the Faetian toilers creating with their hands
not only what was needed to all for life, but also that which was capable of
cutting that life off? Why did these crowds now seeing them off tolerate the
power of a maniac who had made war his goal in life? Yar Jupi had now
conceived the idea of making a grand gesture, of sending out an expedition
to look for new "space continents". But how would the settlers live out
there? According to the former laws of Faena, taking injustice and the
threat of wars into space? No, true wisdom was in seeking not only new
planets to inhabit, for which even Yar Jupi was prepared, but new laws by
which to live that would scare the daylight out of him. Only why had the
half-crazed Dictator let his daughter go out into space so easily? It was no
picnic, after all!..
As he compared one detail with another, the old sage of learning
suddenly came to the frightening conclusion that the Dictator might be
trying to save his daughter from an imminent disintegration war on Faena.
He looked in a different light at the crowds of Faetians who were
seeing him off. Would he ever see them again?
Mada pressed Ave's hand and looked round eloquently. Ave understood her
fears...
Her alarm was not unfounded... Much had indeed been discovered in the
Dictator's palace.
Grom Alt, the brother of the dead Yar Alt, had stumbled on the trail.
This was the Grom Alt who had escorted Um Sat to the Dictator.
The officer of the Blood Guard noticed a dark streak on the floor
running from the Blood Door to Mada Jupi's chambers, to the underground
passage. Grom Alt was of too humble a rank to use the "blood" passage. But
he decided that at all costs he must check what that stain was. He scraped
up a sample of the dried substance and hurried to the laboratory.
His hands shook when, in secret from the others so as not to share his
discovery with anyone, he established the composition of the test, a method
taught to Blood Guard officers while at school, where skilful use was made
of foreign science.
He was so agitated that his hair became damp, although it was almost
standing on end. He had established that the stain on the floor was blood!
He hesitated to report his discovery to the Dictator, especially since
Mada had shown up and had seen her father. True, she had not been
accompanied by her nanny as usual. If something had happened, she could have
told the Dictator herself. But after his meeting with her, Yar Jupi had been
aloofly solemn. He had proclaimed a historical decision that had left the
whole palace and after that the whole continent dumbfounded, then delirious
with joy. The whole leadership had choked with effusions in which they had
pointed out to the ordinary people that the Wisest of the Wise was also the
most Fearless of the Valiant, prepared even to risk his beloved daughter's