"David A. Kyle - Lensman 8 - The Dragon Lensmen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kyle David A)

perfect, in fact, that it released latent parapsychic or psi powers, telepathy in particular.
Only the original recipient of the Lens could wear it-for anyone else it brought instant
death.

The best Lensmen eventually were chosen for the highest honor which the Patrol could
offer: Unattached status. Known as Gray Lensmen from the plain leather uniforms they
now wore, unlike the black-and-silver-and-gold ones of the rest of the officers and men,
these distinguished fellows of the Service were free agents. With their freedom for
independent action they were the personification of the Patrol itself, accountable to no
one but the highest authorities.

Although Kimball Kinnison was not the first Gray Lensman, he was, despite his youth,
one of the outstanding ones. His demonstrated ability led to his being recalled to Arisia
by Mentor to receive the next level of training as a Second Stage Lensman. Kimball was
the first of four to come from each of the original planets, even ahead of Worsel the
Velantian, whose mind actually was better developed and trained, and of vastly greater
power. The Tellurian, however, was chosen for greater capacity and more varied growth,
especially for the force of his driving will, so characteristic of his race.

As the legion of Lensmen grew with its special leaders, so did the scale of the conflict,
until, finally, both galaxies and their neighboring star clusters were involved.

The climax came at last. Kimball Kinnison, as the fighting leader of the Galactic Patrol,
the military arm of the Galactic Council which by now represented all of Civilization,
directed the decisive battles by the Grand Fleet against the massive forces of the
Boskonians. The culmination of the years of galactic struggle came with the giant
dogfight of spaceships which was The Battle of Klovia. The Boskonian conspiracy was
considered destroyed. Kimball Kinnison, the newly-appointed Galactic Coordinator, and
his bride Cris were taking on their new responsibilities for Civilization. Peace was
spreading through the two galaxies.


-3-
Only Mentor knew that the Eddorians bad not been defeated, merely delayed, in their
goal to conquer the galaxies and to make them their playthings.

The chronicler of these events has been, up to now, the famous research historian of the
Galactic Patrol, E. E. "Doc" Smith. His efforts have been monumental; a half dozen
books by him have traced the rise of Tellurian culture and the formation of the Patrol, all
part of the struggle to protect and advance Civilization in the Milky Way. His reports have
been presented in his inimitable way as popularized novels. More than a decade ago Doc
Smith, a warm-hearted and virile man, passed on to "the next plane of existence" to join
the Arisians. Since then no books describing the exploits of the fabulous Lensmen have
been written, although there really has been no need, because the end of the terrible
Boskonian threat was told and the evil Eddorians were shown to have been obliterated.
Doc Smith, the historian, did his work well-and thoroughly-to lead us to the plateau of the
evolution of the Universe with the coming of the Children of the Lens.

There is, however, a period in the history, as reported by the doctor, which has not been
documented. A score of years lie between the marriage of Kinnison to his Cris and the