"02 - Black Genesis (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hubbard L. Ron)

ISBN 0-88404-283-9 pbk. (U.S.) ISBN 0-88404-360-6 pbk. (Can.)
Lyrics to the musical composition "St. James Infirmary" (also known as "Gamblers Blues") is used with the permission of the owner, Copyright 1930 and renewed 1957 by Demon & Haskins Corporation.
"Sing Sing Prison Blues" by Porter Grainger and Freddie Johnson. Copyright © 1925 by MCA Music, a division of MCA Incorporated, NYC. Copyright renewed. Used by permission. All Rights Reserved.
This is a work of science fiction, written as satire* The essence of satire is to examine, comment and give opinion of society and culture, none of which is to be construed as a statement of pure fact. No actual incidents are portrayed and none of the incidents are to be construed as real. Some of the actions of this novel take place on the planet Earth, but the characters as presented in this novel have been invented. Any accidental use of the names of living people in a novel is virtually inevitable, and any such inadvertency in this book is unintentional.
*See Author's Introduction, Mission Earth: Volume One, The Invaders Plan.
To you,
the millions of science fiction fans
and general public who welcomed me back to the world of fiction
so warmly, and to the critics and media
who so pleasantly
applauded the novel "Battlefield Earth" It's great working for you!
Voltarian
Censor's
Disclaimer

To the degree that this book deals with a nonexistent planet ("Earth"), it is hereby deemed as "acceptable for entertainment only." At no time shall it or any portion of it in any form be permitted in any Voltarian study.
The reader is thereby alerted and warned that "Earth" is completely fictional, fabricated and fallacious, and that contact with such a planet (if it ever existed) is dangerous to your health.
Lord Invay Royal Historian Chairman, Board of Censors Royal Palace Voltar Confederacy
By Order of
His Imperial Majesty
Wully the Wise


Voltarian
Translator's
Preface

With all due respect to the Royal Censor, one man's fact is another man's fiction. Fortunately, being the Robotbrain in the Translatophone I don't qualify for that quandary.
Also, to the degree I've never visited this place called Earth (which would be hard since it isn't there), I can't personally vouch for anything that I was given to translate. All I can do is take what is said and make the best of it.
As Lord Invay points out, Earth does not exist on any astrochart and I have confirmed that. Since Soltan Gris (the narrator of this story) is a confessed criminal and well worthy of doubt (besides, anyone whose heroes are Sigmund Freud and Bugs Bunny also has other problems), I did not rely on his account that Earth is about 22 light-years from Voltar. I thoroughly searched all astro-charts in my data banks, concentrating on everything within 2000 light-years out, but nothing was found to match his description. (Come to think of it, I have no idea why I should have an Earth database if there is no such place. I'll have to work on that.)
The subject of light-years brings up a major problem I had translating portions of this into Earth language.
There is no accepted vocabulary for hyperluminary phenomena simply because Earth scientists insist that there is no such thing and that nothing can travel faster than light. (This is the same group who also gave Earth other memorable nonsense like the "edge of the world" and the "sound barrier.") Thus, while most Earthlings have perceived the hyperluminary life-color that in Voltarian we call "ghrial," they don't have a name for it since it can't be reproduced as a shade of nail polish. So I went with "yellow-green" as that is its luminary harmonic. (It is also the word most Earthlings use to try and describe it. Their problem is that they continuously have valid perceptions and experiences that they invalidate and so they get stuck in a very strange view of the world. Reality is apparently determined either by majority vote or government grant, with the latter holding veto power over the former.)
Similarly with other basics like space, time, energy, motion and self, Earth scientists pursue these concepts like the dog chasing its tail or the man trying to jump on the head of his shadow. None of them—dog or scientist—have caught on as to why the objective eludes them so mysteriously. So I relied on the current vocabulary and made the best of it. (I hope no one back on Voltar catches me talking about "electron rings" or I'll be laughed out of the Machine Purity League.)
As to characters, as Lord Invay said in the first volume, Royal officer Jettero Heller and the Countess Krak do exist. Soltan Gris (the narrator who gives me all my circuit-aches) is listed as a General Service officer but there is no further record of worth.
For others who appear in this volume, I'm providing a Key to describe them as well as a few additional items. I had to rely on Gris's prison narrative, which isn't easy.
(Gris's American Southern drawl, spoken with a Northern Voltarian accent, has to be heard to be believed.)
From there, you're on your own! There's only so much a Robotbrain can do!
Sincerely,
54 Charlee Nine
Robotbrain in the Translatophone

Key to BLACK GENESIS

Absorbo-coat—Coating that absorbs light waves, making the object virtually invisible or undetectable.
Antimanco—A race exiled long ago from the planet Manco for ritual murders.
Apparatus, Coordinated Information—The secret police of Voltar, headed by Lombar Hisst and manned by criminals.
Atalanta—Province on planet Manco settled by Prince Caucalsia who, per Folk Legend 894M, started a colony on Blito-P3 (Earth).
Barben, I. G.—Pharmaceutical company controlled by Delbert John Rockecenter.
Bawtch—Soltan Gris's chief clerk for Section 451 on Voltar.
Bis—Intelligence officer of the Fleet and friend of Jettero Heller.