"Dean Wesley Smith - VOR 03 - Island of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Dean Wesley)

A city.

An alien city could now be clearly seen. He knew the shape of it from memory, the pattern of its streets,
the height of its buildings. He had followed this city for longer than he dared remember, always hoping
that one day he would get the chance to learn its secrets. But as long as it remained in the coldness of
space, the city’s secrets remained just that.

Secrets.

“Move back and stand ready,” he ordered the pilot, who obeyed, maneuvering away from the blue glow
surrounding the city-covered asteroid.

The glow increased, expanding, with no clear power source.

Then the glow contracted.

Then expanded again, the entire time never more than a kilometer off the surface of the rock.

ThePharon priest marveled at the power of it. He must learn what controlled such power,then tame it.

The city became clear, brightly lit as if spotlights were covering its every centimeter. Towering structures
seemed to reach for the ball of blue energy surrounding the asteroid, never quite touching it.

Then the blue glow began to swirl with intense force, expanding, contracting in the void of space.

“It is about to shift,” the high priest said to the crewmen beside him.

The blue of the energy surrounding the city-covered rock seemed to flash brightly as it reached its most
intense point.

In an instant the rock and the alien city winked out of sight, leaving only the faint shadow of a blue ball
that also quickly vanished.

ThePharon priest stared for a moment at the emptyviewscreen ,then turned to his second. “Where did
the city jump to?”
“A new planet’s surface,” his second said. “Very close to our current position.”

For the first time in hundreds of jumps, the city had landed on a planet. And it was close enough to reach
in time. The high priest’s voice concealed his excitement.

“Take us there,” he said.“Quickly.”

In the blackness of space the sleek shape of thePharon craft turned and shot off, tracking the alien city
once again to yet another new destination in the Maelstrom.




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