"E. E. Doc Smith - Lensman 8 - The Dragon Lensman" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

Civilization
and had joined the Galactic Council, the planetoid had been established to
collect the
new knowledge available, and to make it possible for the Velantians to become
quickly
one of the foremost interstellar communities. Worsel, the hero of the hour,
undertook the
project and, with the Patrol's extensive help in collecting and furnishing
material, soon had
an extensive library and museum. Then, within one year, he had left to
establish his own
Institute.

At first the satellite had been in close orbit, but as Pok became a source of
research for
the galaxy, it was moved outward, beyond the original network of guardian
satellites, the
picket line that defended the former isolation of the mother planet. Velantia
still claimed
its territorial space within the encircling boundaries of the small guardian
globes, but now
Pok was technically in deep space, available for the use of all without
trespassing.
Constructed massively to match the huge size of the Velantians, Pok at first
was strictly
a collection of mechanisms and machines, kept in the vacuum of space as a sort
of
deepfreeze, without maintenance necessary. Only a Velantian living-quarters
was
pressurized. As a GP establishment, it was soon extensively improved and
continued
rapidly to grow in size and contents. Sectional wedges built and sent by a
multitude of
races were fitted together for maximum expansion in minimum time. At right
angles to
each other, three huge egress shafts ran centrally from surface to surface
through the
planetoid, large enough to admit giant freighters. Every level had docking
platforms. Each
section had its own gravity and-atmosphere, to match its source. Additionally,
central
control could alter each section to permit the most varied of research
personnel to work
comfortably, simulating almost any planetary condition.

Whereas the Velantians had been more interested in mind power and abstract
science,
they had, by the success of their original Pok, become equally outstanding in
technological and mechanical application. They proved that it was easy for
such a