Junior scientists stood guard all day along the bell ropes, ready to announce the birth. At night they exchanged rude jokes about the reason for the delay. However, they were careful not to be heard by elders or initiates.

The child was born shortly before dawn. He was weak and thin, but it was not this, but some features of his body that led the father of the newborn to despair. His mother, Lady Tanya, woke up and listened to his plaintive cry for some time, and then venomously remarked:

Who scared the little rascal? It's like he's afraid to live.

The scholar Joquin, the eldest during the birth, took her words as a bad omen. At first he believed that the mother should not see the freak until tomorrow, but now he decided to act quickly to avert disaster. He hastily ordered the slaves to cover the cradle, closing it on all sides to ward off any evil radiation that might enter the bedroom.

As the amazing procession began to squeeze through the door, Lady Tanya lay with her slender body raised. She looked with surprise, turning into alarm. She had already patiently carried four children to her husband and therefore realized that something unusual was happening. Lady Tanya was not a meek creature, and even the presence of a scientist in the room did not bother her.

She asked furiously:

What's going on, Joquin?

Joquin looked at her in despair. Well, doesn’t she know that every word spoken now in an angry mood only dooms the child to an even worse fate? He fearfully noticed that she was going to continue talking, and with a prayer to the atomic gods he took his fate into his own hands.

He took three quick steps towards Lady Tanya and covered her mouth with his hand. As he expected, the woman was so surprised by his behavior that she did not immediately begin to resist. And by the time she came to her senses and began to weakly struggle, the cradle was tilted, and through its handle she saw the child for the first time.

The storm that had gathered in her blue eyes dissipated. A moment later, Joquin gently removed his hand from her mouth and slowly retreated towards the cradle. He stood there, shuddering at the thought of the possible consequences of his actions, but since the verbal lightning did not strike him from the bed, the consciousness of the rightness of what he had done prevailed in him. He began to glow internally and subsequently always claimed that he had saved the situation as far as it could be saved. In his warm self-congratulation he almost forgot about the child.

He came to his senses from the question asked by Lady Tanya in a dangerously calm voice:

How did it happen?

Joquin nearly made the mistake of shrugging. However, he stopped himself in time. But before he could answer, the woman said more sharply:

Of course I know it's the atomic gods, but can you tell me when this happened?

Joquin was careful. Temple scholars had enough data to know that the controlling gods could act randomly and were difficult to constrain by dates. However, mutations do not occur until the fetus is one month old in the mother's womb, so the timing can be approximated. No later than January 533 P.V. and no earlier... He paused, remembering the date of birth of Lady Tanya's fourth child. And he finished his calculations out loud:

Certainly not before 529 after the barbarism.

The woman now looked more closely at the child. And Joquin too. And he was surprised to realize how much he had not allowed himself to see before. Now his impression was even worse than before. The child had a too large head compared to his fragile body. The shoulders and arms suffered the most noticeable visible deformation. The shoulders sloped down from the neck at an acute angle, making the body almost triangular. The arms seemed twisted, as if the bone, and with it the muscles and skin, had been turned 360 degrees; each hand needs to be turned around to get it right. The baby's chest was extremely flat, and all the ribs stuck out through the skin. The chest sank down much more than in normal children.

That's all. But it’s enough to make Lady Tanya sigh heavily. Joquin looked at her and immediately understood what she was thinking. She made the mistake a few days before the birth, boasting in close company that five children gave her an advantage over her sister Chorzona, who had only two, and over her half-brother Lord Tews, to whom his sarcastic wife gave birth to only three. Now the advantage will be on their side, because obviously she cannot have any more normal labor, and they will catch up or even surpass her.

There will also be many witty remarks addressed to her. The potential for confusion is great.

Joquin read all this on her face as she looked at the child with a hardening gaze. He said hastily:

This is the worst period, lady. After a few months or years, the result will be relatively... satisfactory.

He almost said “human.” And he felt her gaze on him. And he waited restlessly. But she only asked:

Has the Lord Ruler, the child's grandfather, seen him?

Joquin bowed his head.

The Lord Ruler saw the child a few minutes after its birth. His only comment was that I should establish, if possible, when you were struck.

She didn't answer immediately, but her eyes narrowed even more. The thin face froze. Finally she looked at the scientist.

I suppose you know,” she said, “that the reason can only be due to the negligence of one of the temples?”

Joquin had already thought about this, but now he looked at her with concern. Nothing had been done about God's children before, but now it occurred to Joquin that the Lynns would view this as a special case. He answered slowly:

The ways of the atomic gods are incomprehensible.

I believe the child will be destroyed. And you can be sure that within a month more scientists will crane their necks than the world has ever seen.

She was not very pleasant when she was angry, Lady Tanya Lynn, daughter-in-law of the Lord Ruler.

It is easy to determine the source of the mutation. Last summer, Lady Tanya got tired of vacationing on one of her family's estates on the west coast and returned to the capital earlier than expected. Her husband, Commander-in-Chief Craig Lynn, carried out an expensive restoration of his palace. Neither the sister, who lived on the other side of the city, nor the stepmother, the wife of the lord ruler, invited Lady Tanya to their place. Willy-nilly, she was forced to stay in the city palace.

This complex of buildings, still maintained by the government, has not been used as housing for several years. The city has grown greatly, and commercial buildings have long since grown up around the palace. Due to the lack of foresight of previous generations, the lands surrounding the palace were not declared state property, and now it would be unwise to take them by force. Particularly annoying was the inability to foresee the benefits of one site. There was a temple on it, adjacent to the wing of the palace. He caused Lady Tanya headaches more than once. Once in the palace, she discovered that the only part of it suitable for habitation was adjacent to the temple, and the three best palace windows looked directly onto the lead wall of the temple.

The scientist who built the temple belonged to the Raheinla group, which was hostile to the Linns. The whole city was excited when news of this became known. And the fact that the three-acre plot remained in the possession of the temple made the insult even more pronounced. The Lynns still haven't forgotten him.

The Lord Ruler's agents, upon their first examination, determined that a small section of the lead wall was radioactive. They were unable to determine the source of the radiation because the wall in this place was of the required thickness. But they reported to their master.

Before midnight on the second day after the baby was born, the decision was made.

Shortly before twelve, Joquin was called and asked to outline the course of events. Once again, Joquin held his own life in his hands.

In the inter-publishing series “Anglo-American fiction of the 20th century”

The following books by Alfred Van Vogt were published:

Vol. 1. Slan.

Vol. 2. Lynn's Wizard.

Vol. 3. Winged man.

Vol. 4. Endless battle.

Vol. 5. Gunsmiths.

Vol. 6 Moon Beast.

The second issue included the novels EMPIRE OF THE ATOM, 1957, THE WIZARD OF LINN, 1962 and QUEST FOR THE FUTURE, 1970.

Empire of the Atom

1

Junior scientists stood guard all day along the bell ropes, ready to announce the birth. At night they exchanged rude jokes about the reason for the delay. However, they were careful not to be heard by elders or initiates.

The child was born shortly before dawn. He was weak and thin, but it was not this, but some features of his body that led the father of the newborn to despair. His mother, Lady Tanya, woke up and listened to his plaintive cry for some time, and then venomously remarked:

Who scared the little rascal? It's like he's afraid to live.

The scholar Joquin, the eldest during the birth, took her words as a bad omen. At first he believed that the mother should not see the freak until tomorrow, but now he decided to act quickly to avert disaster. He hastily ordered the slaves to cover the cradle, closing it on all sides to ward off any evil radiation that might enter the bedroom.

As the amazing procession began to squeeze through the door, Lady Tanya lay with her slender body raised. She looked with surprise, turning into alarm. She had already patiently carried four children to her husband and therefore realized that something unusual was happening. Lady Tanya was not a meek creature, and even the presence of a scientist in the room did not bother her.

2

The scientist Aldin did not experience premonitions at all, especially since he did not have them when he slowly walked towards the temple of Raheinla. Morning blossomed around him. The sun has risen. A soft breeze blew across the Street of Palms, where his new home stood. The scientist’s thoughts were the usual kaleidoscope of happy memories and calm joy from the fact that in ten years a simple village scientist managed to become a man - the chief scientist of the Raheinla temple.

There was only a single blemish in these memories, and it was this that was the true reason for his rapid progress. More than eleven years ago, he once told another junior that since the atomic gods had conveyed some secrets of mechanical power to people, it was worthwhile to woo them with experimental methods in order to find out other secrets. After all, there may be a grain of truth in the legend of cities and planets sparkling with atomic energy and light. Aldin couldn't help but shudder at the memory. Only over time did he understand the extent of his blasphemy. And when the next day that junior coldly informed him that he had informed the chief scientist, it seemed to him the end of all hopes.

But to his surprise it turned out to be the beginning of a new stage in his career. A month later, he was called to talk with the visiting scientist Joquin, who lived in the Linn palace.

We encourage young people whose thoughts go off the beaten path,” Joquin said. - We know that young people are characterized by radical ideas, and as a person gets older, he finds a balance between his inner essence and the needs of the world. In other words,” the scientist finished, smiling at the younger one, “have your thoughts, but keep them to yourself.”

Shortly after this conversation, Aldean was assigned to the Eastern Shore. From there a year later he moved to the capital. As he grew older and gained more and more power, he discovered that realism among young people was becoming less common than Joquin had said. Years of power brought awareness of the stupidity of his then words. At the same time, he was proud of them, as if they made him different from others. Having become the chief, he realized that radicalism is the only criterion by which candidates are selected for promotion. Only those recommendations that indicated even the slightest deviation from the candidate’s standard thinking were considered. This restriction had one happy consequence. At first, Aldin's wife, determined to be the power behind the power of the temples, declared herself the sole judge in the matter of promotion. Young temple poets visited her when Aldeen was away and read their poems to her.

3

Medron Lynn, Lord Ruler, walked along the street of Lynn. IN Lately He rarely went out into the city, but, as in the past, he felt the same curiosity and excitement as always when he had a specific goal. Because only a specific goal could justify the time and effort spent.

He was surrounded by the usual number of bodyguards, but they were specially trained for such exits: like soldiers on leave, they walked in front and behind him, as if they were not at all interested in the thin, sickly man with a stone face, any order of which became law on Earth and other planets .

The Lord Ruler visited markets in the most populated areas. The sight of multi-colored goods reminded him of his younger days, when these parts of the city were dull and uncolored, and the level of craftsmanship was often extremely low. Merchants grumbled and became angry when, in the early years of his rule, he ordered that houses be rented only to those who would paint them brightly, and that only those who sold high-quality goods were given trade licenses. Forgotten crisis. Under the pressure of competition, cheerfully painted houses influenced the appearance of the entire city, and the demand for good quality goods caused an increase in the skill of artisans.

Lord Ruler Lynn was forced to fight his way through a crowd of buyers and sellers. The market was filled with people from the hills and across the lake; There were quite a few inhabitants of other planets here with their eyes wide open in surprise. This is the best time to start conversations.

He spoke only to those who did not recognize the ruler in this unshaven man in the uniform of a retired soldier. It didn't take long to discover what the thousands of agents he had sent out to propagate his point of view had done. Good work. He himself met seven such agents, and three struck up a conversation with him. The five farmers, three merchants, and two workers whom he spoke to himself responded to the Lord Ruler's criticisms with pro-government slogans that they could only hear from his people.

4

When Aldin, at noon on the third day after the birth of the Linnov child, entered the great temple of Covis, he was a tired, hungry, hunted man, thinking only of escape. He fell into the chair offered by the younger one. And while the young man was aware of the situation, Aldin ordered that his presence not be made known to anyone, with the exception of Goro, the chief scientist of the Kovis temple.

“But Goro is missing,” the younger objected. “He just recently left for the ruler’s palace.

Aldean began to quickly remove the woman's dress. Fatigue quickly left him. “Absent,” he thought joyfully. This means that until Goro returns, he is the head scientist at the temple. For a man in his position, it was like a reprieve from his death sentence. He ordered food to be brought to him. Took Goro's office. And he started asking questions.

For the first time he learned the only reason for the executions in the Raheinla temple announced to the people. Aldin pondered this reason all evening. And the more he thought, the more indignant he became. He was vaguely aware that his thoughts were very radical, if not heretical; he felt deeply offended that the gods had been so insulted in their temple. With absolute clarity, in which, however, there was no unbelief, he knew that the gods themselves would not show their displeasure. Thoughts ran, automatically switching to practical consequences. By the end of the evening he was considering the possibilities.

Since time immemorial, the gods have approved certain processes. Commanders and owners of spaceships donated iron to the temples. After performing the prescribed ceremony, this iron was placed in close proximity to the closed divine substance and remained there for exactly 24 hours. After four days - one for each god - the energy of the divine substance moved into the iron. Then he was returned to the ship, where he was placed in a metal compartment. There, with the help of photovoltaic cells - this device has also been known since time immemorial as fire, sword, spear and bow - it was possible to start and stop a series of explosions of a given power.

5

As a child, Klein constantly felt: “Nobody needs me. Nobody loves me."

The slaves caring for him adopted his parents' disgust. They saw very well that the father and mother rarely visit the newborn. Sometimes the little mutant was left alone for hours. And when a child was found crying in wet, dirty diapers, few people were tolerant and lenient towards him.

Hands capable of tenderness became rough when touching him, and thousands of instances of rough treatment communicated with muscles and nerves, becoming part of the habitual perception of the environment. He learned to be servile.

Strangely, as the words began to make sense, there was some change in the conditions of his life. Klein quite innocently dropped a few words, from which Joquin concluded that the slaves were not following his orders. A few questions at each visit clarified the picture, and the slaves immediately realized that unwise actions brought punishment with a whip. Men and women have learned that as a child grows older, he can talk about the treatment he receives.

Wizard of Lynn

1

Child of the Gods" has made progress. Born a despised mutant into the reigning family of the semi-barbarian, declining Linn Empire around 12000 AD. e., he grew up almost unnoticed by those in the family and government who were busy with endless intrigues in the struggle for power. Sent to the temples for training, he learned the inner meaning of matter from several sages who understood the secret of the atomic gods. By the time his potential enemies realized that he could be dangerous to their plans, he had become too powerful to be destroyed.

He explored the giant mines where the atomic gods were believed to live and realized that they were the remains of destroyed cities. From the remains he found in the ruins, he pieced together mechanisms and weapons, including a wonderful ball that absorbed or split all energy and matter that it touched, except - this was Klein's guess, based on the fact that this terrible weapon no less failed to protect the disappeared civilization - “protected” matter. The ball reacted to the thought of the person controlling it.

His discoveries explained a lot. They explained semi-mythical stories about a long-dead amazing civilization that existed somewhere several thousand years ago. They also provided a clearer picture of how bow-and-arrow culture could exist side by side with the simplest spaceships that any craftsman could build, and they provided a partial explanation for the so-called "divine" metals that propelled the ships. However, the mystery of the forgotten disaster remained unexplained.

And then, from Jupiter’s satellite, Europa, Chinnar invaded Lynn with his barbarian hordes. He brought with him the dead body of a huge inhuman creature. Chinnar believed that a long time ago such creatures came from the stars and destroyed human civilization. And although his own attack on the Lynn Empire failed, with his statesmanlike attitude towards the welfare of the human race, he managed to convince Klein that the presence of one monster in the solar system indicated the proximity of another invasion. Klein, in ancient books Having already encountered vague references to some Rissas, he was struck by the sincerity of the barbarian. However, he rejected Chinnar's claims to take control of the Lynn Empire. There were already too many difficulties, entanglements, and complications.

For example, the fact that the new Lord Councilor, Lord Gerrin, was his brother.

2

Someone said:

Look!

There was so much amazement in this word that Lord Jerrin involuntarily turned around. Everyone around craned their necks, peering into the sky.

He turned his gaze to where everyone was already looking. And a wave of horror washed over him. There, above, hung a ship larger than anything he had ever seen before. Knowing well the maximum dimensions of spaceships on Earth, he guessed that the guest was not even from solar system. His thoughts instantly turned to the messages coming from the military commandant on Mars. And then for a moment he was overcome by a feeling of impending disaster.

However, Jerrin's courage did not last long. He quickly determined that the stranger was a third of a mile in length. A keen eye picked out and noted for the future design details that have pronounced features. As he watched, a huge machine floated silently past. She was hanging three miles above the ground, and her speed was low, because a minute later the colossus was still looming in the distance. Finally she disappeared behind the haze of the eastern horizon.

3

When the Lord Councilor's crew arrived on the ship, there was no sign of Clain. Jerrin accepted the implications with a grim smile. But there was irritated muttering among his staff. The tension subsided when an officer in a general's uniform hurriedly approached the gangway. Quickly approaching, he saluted and stood at attention, waiting for permission to speak. Jerrin gave it to him.

The man quickly said apologetically:

Your Excellency, Lord Clane sends his sincere regrets that he was unable to complete some of the preliminary arrangements. We will pick him up at his estate and he will be at your service as soon as he is on board.

Jerrin softened. He wasn't a stickler for rules, but he didn't need to be told that people who deliberately broke them were expressing unspoken goals and thoughts. He was glad that Klein chose this way to express his goals. He was content with the minimum of courtesy.

Jerrin was not so tactless as to ask about the nature of these "preliminary arrangements" which caused the delay. He took it for granted that they existed only in his brother's imagination.

4

The invading ship, fortunately, did not approach the city of Lynn within one hundred and fifty miles. Therefore, it was natural that his first victim would not be the Capitol. One large central city took the first blow.

The bomb was dropped approximately twenty minutes after Klein attempted to destroy the alien with the ball. It fell on a city that was completely evacuated, except for street patrols and the burglars who made the presence of these patrols necessary. Thick, dense clouds of smoke hid the damage and disaster.

Less than half an hour later, one of the colossal bombs hit the second city, where a mushroom of poisonous smoke grew, fatal and irresistible.

The third city was hit an hour later, and the fourth shortly after noon. Then there was a pause, and it became clear how many small ships emerged from the giant. They explored the outer edges of the four giant areas of smoke and flew teasingly alongside the Lynn patrols, as if trying to draw their fire.

When news of this maneuver reached Klein, he immediately sent a message to Jerrin:

5

As Klein's "lift" craft stopped inside the enemy ship, he saw a moment later that they were being held firmly in what appeared to be a metal case. The nose of the car and half of the body were immersed in this tight-fitting cradle. All around him there were other small vessels, inserted into a kind of cell.

The ship automatically slid into its nest. Now there was only one problem. Will the one driving the big machine notice that it is a rescue ship that has been captured on Mars by human beings?

If he noticed, he didn’t show it in the first minutes.

Where the “nest” case ended there were high steps. Klein and his men climbed these steps, passing into an empty corridor. Klein suddenly stopped, hesitated, took a deep breath - and sent the ball on its deadly mission.

Turning, he disappeared from sight, returned, disappeared again and returned again. Then, for the third time, he slipped like a lightning strike.

Alfred Van Vogt

Wizard of Lynn

Novels

Empire of the Atom

Junior scientists stood guard all day along the bell ropes, ready to announce the birth. At night they exchanged rude jokes about the reason for the delay. However, they were careful not to be heard by elders or initiates.

The child was born shortly before dawn. He was weak and thin, but it was not this, but some features of his body that led the father of the newborn to despair. His mother, Lady Tanya, woke up and listened to his plaintive cry for some time, and then venomously remarked:

Who scared the little rascal? It's like he's afraid to live.

The scholar Joquin, the eldest during the birth, took her words as a bad omen. At first he believed that the mother should not see the freak until tomorrow, but now he decided to act quickly to avert disaster. He hastily ordered the slaves to cover the cradle, closing it on all sides to ward off any evil radiation that might enter the bedroom.

As the amazing procession began to squeeze through the door, Lady Tanya lay with her slender body raised. She looked with surprise, turning into alarm. She had already patiently carried four children to her husband and therefore realized that something unusual was happening. Lady Tanya was not a meek creature, and even the presence of a scientist in the room did not bother her.

She asked furiously:

What's going on, Joquin?

Joquin looked at her in despair. Well, doesn’t she know that every word spoken now in an angry mood only dooms the child to an even worse fate? He fearfully noticed that she was going to continue talking, and with a prayer to the atomic gods he took his fate into his own hands.

He took three quick steps towards Lady Tanya and covered her mouth with his hand. As he expected, the woman was so surprised by his behavior that she did not immediately begin to resist. And by the time she came to her senses and began to weakly struggle, the cradle was tilted, and through its handle she saw the child for the first time.

The storm that had gathered in her blue eyes dissipated. A moment later, Joquin gently removed his hand from her mouth and slowly retreated towards the cradle. He stood there, shuddering at the thought of the possible consequences of his actions, but since the verbal lightning did not strike him from the bed, the consciousness of the rightness of what he had done prevailed in him. He began to glow internally and subsequently always claimed that he had saved the situation as far as it could be saved. In his warm self-congratulation he almost forgot about the child.

He came to his senses from the question asked by Lady Tanya in a dangerously calm voice:

How did it happen?

Joquin nearly made the mistake of shrugging. However, he stopped himself in time. But before he could answer, the woman said more sharply:

Of course I know it's the atomic gods, but can you tell me when this happened?

Joquin was careful. Temple scholars had enough data to know that the controlling gods could act randomly and were difficult to constrain by dates. However, mutations do not occur until the fetus is one month old in the mother's womb, so the timing can be approximated. No later than January 533 P.V. and no earlier... He paused, remembering the date of birth of Lady Tanya's fourth child. And he finished his calculations out loud:

Certainly not before 529 after the barbarism.

The woman now looked more closely at the child. And Joquin too. And he was surprised to realize how much he had not allowed himself to see before. Now his impression was even worse than before. The child had a too large head compared to his fragile body. The shoulders and arms suffered the most noticeable visible deformation. The shoulders sloped down from the neck at an acute angle, making the body almost triangular. The arms seemed twisted, as if the bone, and with it the muscles and skin, had been turned 360 degrees; each hand needs to be turned around to get it right. The baby's chest was extremely flat, and all the ribs stuck out through the skin. The chest sank down much more than in normal children.

That's all. But it’s enough to make Lady Tanya sigh heavily. Joquin looked at her and immediately understood what she was thinking. She made the mistake a few days before the birth, boasting in close company that five children gave her an advantage over her sister Chorzona, who had only two, and over her half-brother Lord Tews, to whom his sarcastic wife gave birth to only three. Now the advantage will be on their side, because obviously she cannot have any more normal labor, and they will catch up or even surpass her.

There will also be many witty remarks addressed to her. The potential for confusion is great.

Joquin read all this on her face as she looked at the child with a hardening gaze. He said hastily:

This is the worst period, lady. After a few months or years, the result will be relatively... satisfactory.

He almost said “human.” And he felt her gaze on him. And he waited restlessly. But she only asked:

Has the Lord Ruler, the child's grandfather, seen him?

Joquin bowed his head.

The Lord Ruler saw the child a few minutes after its birth. His only comment was that I should establish, if possible, when you were struck.

She didn't answer immediately, but her eyes narrowed even more. The thin face froze. Finally she looked at the scientist.

I suppose you know,” she said, “that the reason can only be due to the negligence of one of the temples?”

Joquin had already thought about this, but now he looked at her with concern. Nothing had been done about God's children before, but now it occurred to Joquin that the Lynns would view this as a special case. He answered slowly:

The ways of the atomic gods are incomprehensible.

I believe the child will be destroyed. And you can be sure that within a month more scientists will crane their necks than the world has ever seen.

She was not very pleasant when she was angry, Lady Tanya Lynn, daughter-in-law of the Lord Ruler.

It is easy to determine the source of the mutation. Last summer, Lady Tanya got tired of vacationing on one of her family's estates on the west coast and returned to the capital earlier than expected. Her husband, Commander-in-Chief Craig Lynn, carried out an expensive restoration of his palace. Neither the sister, who lived on the other side of the city, nor the stepmother, the wife of the lord ruler, invited Lady Tanya to their place. Willy-nilly, she was forced to stay in the city palace.

Virgo