"Murray Leinster - Talents,Incorporated" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leinster Murray)

government of Kandar was not one of great pomp and
display. There was a king, to be sure, but nobody could
imagine the perspiringly earnest King Humphrey the
Eighth as a tyrant. There were titles, it was true, but they
were life appointments to the planet's legislative Upper
House. Kandar was a tranquil, quaint, and very happy
world. There were few industries, and those were small.
Nobody was unduly rich, and most of its people were
contented. It was a world with no history of
bloodshed--until now.
Bors brushed absently at his uniform as he walked the two
hundred yards to the palace. He abstractedly
acknowledged the sentries' salutes as he entered. Much of
the palace guard had been sent away, and most of the
palace's small staff would hide from the Mekinese. The
aggressors had a nasty habit of imposing special
humiliations upon citizens who'd been prominent before
they were conquered.
He went unannounced into King Humphrey's study, where
the monarch conferred dispiritedly with Captain Bors's
uncle, the exiled Pretender of Tralee, who listened with
interest. The king was talking doggedly to his old friend.
"No. You're mistaken. You'll have my written order to
distribute the bullion in the Treasury to all the cities, to be
shared as evenly as possible by all the people. The
Mekinese can't blame you for obeying an order of your
lawful king before they unlawfully seize the kingdom!"
Captain Bors said curtly, "Majesty, the first of the four
liners is in. Two more will arrive tomorrow and the last at
sunrise the day after. The Mekinese will be here two days
later."
King Humphrey and Captain Bors's uncle stared at him.
"And," said Bors, "the same source of information says
there's a Mekinese cruiser waiting underwater off Cape
Farnell to lob a fusion bomb at the fleet as it's ready to
lift."
King Humphrey said, "But nobody can possibly know that
two liners will come tomorrow! One hopes so, of course.
But one can't know! As for a cruiser, submerged, there's
been no report of it."
"The information," said Captain Bors, "came from Talents,
Incorporated. It's sample information, given free. The first
item has checked. He came with a letter from a cabinet
minister on Norden."
Bors handed it to the Pretender of Tralee.
"Mmmm," he said thoughtfully. "I've heard of this Talents,
Incorporated. And on Norden, too! Phillip of Norden
mentioned it to me. A man named Morgan had told him
that Talents, Incorporated had secured information that an
atom bomb--a fission bomb as I remember, and quite