Archiwum
- Index
- Diana Palmer Long Tall Texans 10 Emmett
- Lois McMaster Bujold 10 Mirror Dance
- Miller Rand i Robyn & Dav
- Anne Moir Dav
- Eddings, Dav
- Guy N. Smith Sabat 02 Krwawa bogini
- Smith Crissy Were Chronicles 01 PACK ALPHA
- GiHSZ 3.10.10
- W pogoni za szcz晜›ciem(2)
- Clancy Tom Splinter Cell 02 Operacja Barakuda
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
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- epicusfuror.xlx.pl
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the
description of the Eich, who were represented as Satanic devils to whom
sacrifices had to
be made. Some were present in halos of fire and could not be seen-probably in
atmosuits.
Some were wraiths who danced in Togran minds-and who appeared at deathbeds, so
clearly that they could be described as Eich. "Eichwooren," Kallatra had said,
and Chon
had shivered. Cloudd was familiar with the Eich, but knew nothing but rumors
about
Eichwoor or the Eichwooren, the unutterably evil ghosts in the other plane of
existence. The
promise of the Satanic Eich was that "the invasion of the other corporeal
system of stars
will come when Togra and its nine companions have the same celestial
longitude." That
could be a reference to the First Galaxy being invaded and conquered so that
deserving
Noyyonese would have other worlds to rule. It was a typical Eich promise, and
it contained
one very important specific clue relating to time: the conjunction of the
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planets.
When was that conjunction? Cloudd demanded. Soon.
How soon?
In two revolutions.
In two revolutions around Togra's sun? Two years? No. Two revolutions of the
sun around
Togra.
Two rotations! Cloudd gasped. Two days. Two days and the Eich would-invade the
First
Galaxy? Attack Klovia in the Second Galaxy?
There was no mistaking the possibilities that existed and the way they fitted
into what was
beginning to happen out in space.
The deadline had come, and Chon and Kallatra jointly Lensed Nadreck with the
information and guesses as Cloudd listened. The three on Tellus silently
speculated over
the consequences of their information.
" I acknowledge to you much gratitude," Nadreck said. "We have much to think
about! I will
be at my destination soon and will be busy. Meanwhile, Cloudd, get Gronitskog
aboard the
Sapphire, which my cadets have prepared for departure. They have to have a
Patrolman in
charge and you're it, Cloudd. They'll run everything, do all the work, they're
competent, but
you are officially the captain. That ship must leave before nightfall.
"General, with all due respect, please accompany Cloudd to Palain with
Gronitskog, if
possible. From there you can proceed to Velantia and Worsel.
`As for you, Kallatra, you have a terrible burden that I want no part of. I
humbly defer to you
and Worsel to work on this riddle. You two can fight ghosts, I cannot. Go to
Worsel without
delay. Prepare us for the worst. You have twenty-four hours.
"This is Nadreck, clearing ether."
8 The Dregs of Onlo
Tellurian Lensman Dick Armstrong carefully considered the chaos aboard the
Palainian.
freighter Palai-kai. Surrounded by alien spaceships, the small civilian crew
and the large
body of terrorized passengers and servants seemed to be fighting for their
lives. Deaths
seemed inevitable, although none had been reported. Alien robots were aboard,
but what
they were doing was unclear. Inexperienced entities were armed and firing
guns,
endangering themselves and the ship more than the robots. The engine trouble
with the
inertialess drive could be a coincidence. A call for help, admittedly low
priority, had been
sent by him, but no one had replied. Did the message get through or was it
blocked?
And now Captain Finndha was panicking, telling him to Lens for Nadreck.
For a Lensman, Armstrong felt unbelievably helpless, this feeling. underscored
by his
rediscovered sense of power. Since his disablement, Armstrong had used his
Lens for
nothing more than telepathic communication and as a translator of alien
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messages. Here
he had probed for lifeforms and had found none. He couldn't take charge of
thousands of
Z-forms, let alone manage a ship he wasn't familiar with or fight with
untrained personnel
and questionable equipment.
He had mentally pushed around some of the smaller spaceships, but that was
about all he
had done. The one other thing he could do was defend to the death against any
takeover of
the ship's controls, and that he was resolved to do. He had no intention of
disgracing the
Patrol.
The first thing he did was follow the captain's plea, and he sent out a second
Lensed call,
this time with emphasis. The extraordinary plea of Captain Finndha, with all
its peculiar
Palainian undertones displaying the contradictions of heroism and
self-centered
cowardice, was inelegant, but meritorious. The situation was horrible and
desperate, and
Nadreck was needed. So, although his Lensed cry for help went directly to his
surveillance
section chief, it was actually an indirect appeal to Nadreck.
Almost as a supernatural response to a prayer, a mysterious force propelled
Armstrong
out of the room, down a stairwell, and out an emergency exit into space!
A whir and a,whoosh and it was done!
At one second he had been standing next to Noc the next moment he was alone in
space,
a hundred yards from the beleaguered freighter! Weirdly, his pressure suit did
not swell in
the vacuum; he did not float; he did not tumble; he was gripped by something
other than
gravity!
For several seconds he stared at the scene before him, like a museum diorama
or a
fanciful entertainment drama. The freighter, fire-streaked and ponderous, hung
like a gray
ornament in the intensely black void. The ugly hole slashed in its back side
was obvious,
with purple mists trailing from it. White, silvery, and gray shapes, elongated
or round,
drifted slowly past him and his ship. The shapes filled the celestial sphere
as far as his eye
could see. He saw no details; out there in space, with no electronics to
refine and amplify,
he saw only the huge, overall panoply of an awesome swarm of things.
"I've encased you in a tractor zone. I want you to take a close look at these
things."
The thoughts crashed into his head with the stunning strength of a highly
focused mind.
Nadreck! Nadreck? Nadreck had plucked him out of the ship and put him here?
Impossible!
"Yes. I am Nadreck. I have done this to you, my friend Armstrong, not because
you were in
danger, but because I need you for my inspection of the situation. Do not
fear, for I have an
unbreakable grip on you.
"I heard your first message some time ago while I was at a conference on
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Tellus, but I
immediately acted, for your situation is part of a greater, more serious one.
I did not come
because of your indirect plea to me just now. I was already here and have for
many
moments been studying the status of things. You are right, but from my
viewpoint terrible
things seem to be developing-which means we have work to do."
"Where are you?" Armstrong strained his vision, searching everywhere among the
ghostly
shapes.
"I rest a thousand miles away. If I were nearby, you still would not see my
ultrablack,
indetectable ship. However, look!" For one brief unveiling, the Tellurian saw
the Palainian.
The Second Stage Lensman was sitting amidst the machinery of his inimitable,
extraordinary one-man spaceship. No one had a private speedster remotely like
Nadreck's. It was a transparent octohedron, looking very much like a gigantic
cut jewel. The
eight triangular planes were revolving slowly, but inside Nadreck and his
machines
remained stationary. The L2 had the aspect of a fluorescent blue crab hunched
over his
controls. And yet-and yet, he seemed more like a somewhat luminous spider
spinning a
web of rainbow-hued lights. The ship and its master was an unreal image, a
phantom, for
behind it, and through it, passed the solid silvery forms of the strange
craft.
Nadreck, a figure of mist, as tenuous a specter as his ship, was pressing
buttons and now
fading from sight.
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