"Jack Williamson - Hindsight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williamson Jack)

Was Tony mad? Why didn't he veer aside, delay the contact? Scattered in
space, his ships could harry the Astrarchy's commerce, and interrupt bombardment
of the Earth. But, in a headon battle, they were doomed.
Brek listened to the quiet hum of the achronintegrators. Under these conditions,
the new autosight gave an accuracy of fire of forty percent. Even if Tony's gunnery
was perfect, the odds were still two to one against him.
 "Minus two"
Two minutes! Brek looked down at the jeweled chronometer on his wrist. For a
moment he had an odd feeling that the design was unfamiliar. Strange, when he had
worn it for twenty years.
The dial blurred a little. He remembered the day that Tony and Elora gave it to
himthe day he left the university to come to Astrophon. It was too nice a gift. Neither
of them had much money.
He wondered if Tony had ever guessed his love for Elora. Probably it was better
that she had always declined his attentions. No shadow of jealousy had ever come
over their friendship.
"Minus one"
This wouldn't do! Half angrily, Brek jerked his eyes back to the screen. Still,
however, in the silvery sodium clouds, he saw the faces of Tony and Elora. Still he
couldn't forget the oddly unfamiliar pressure of the chronometer on his wristit was
like the soft touch of Elora's fingers, when she had fastened it there.
Suddenly the black flecks in the screen were not targets any more. Brek caught a
long gasping breath. After all, he was an Earthman. After twenty years in the
Astrarch's generous pay, this timepiece was still his most precious possession.
His gray eyes narrowed grimly. Without the autosight, the Astrarch's fleet would
be utterly blind in the sodium clouds. Given any sort of achronic range finder, Tony
Grimm could wipe it out.
Brek's gaunt body trembled. Death, he knew, would be the sure penalty. In the
battle or afterwardit didn't matter. He knew that he would accept it without regret.
"Zero!"
The achronintegrators were whirring busily, and the warrior Queen quivered to
the first salvo of her guns. Then Brek's clenched fists came down on the carefully
set keyboard. The autosight stopped humming. The guns ceased to fire.
Brek picked up the Astrarch's telephone. "I've stopped the autosight." His voice
was quiet and low. "It is quite impossible to set it again in two minutes."
The telephone clicked and was dead.
The vessel shuddered and the lights went out. Sirens wailed. Air valves clanged.
The lights came on, went off again. Presently, there were no more hits. Smothered in
darkness, the great room remained very silent.
The tiny racing tick of the chronometer was the only sound.
After an eternal time, feeble emergency lights came on. The Astrarch came
stumbling into the room, looking dazed and pale.
A group of spacemen followed him. Their stricken, angry faces made an odd
contrast with their gay uniforms. Before their vengeful hatred, Brek felt cold and ill.
But the Astrarch stopped their ominous advance.
"The Earthman has doomed himself as well," the shaken ruler told them.
"There's not much more that you can do. And certainly no haste about it."
He left them muttering at the door and came slowly to Brek.
"Crushed," he whispered. "You destroyed me, Veronar." A trembling hand
wiped at the pale waxen mask of his face. "Everything is lost. The Queen disabled.