Randall Garrett by The Wayward Course

Author:The Wayward Course
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-02-22T12:28:45+00:00

““We didn’t realize they were looking for us until they had actually landed on Earth. It seems that the lower the velocity, the more difficult it is to pinpoint the position of the body in space. They combed that area of the Galaxy of the body in space. They combed that area of the Galaxy for years before they found Earth; but by then, both of the original colonial ships had arrived at their destinations.

“The Khethani are supreme egoists. The very thought of another race attempting to colonize the Galaxy was supremely abhorrent to them; so they took over Earth.

“However, they made one mistake. Before they attacked, they broadcast an ultimatum. ‘Tell us where your colonists went—or else’.” She shrugged a little. “It was foolish of them; human beings are egoists, too. All information leading to Sirius and Altair was destroyed. The few people who knew the secret destinations of the ships submitted to partial amnesia treatment. By the time the Khethans had conquered us, the knowledge of the colonists’ whereabouts had been effectively covered.”

“Just a moment.” interrupted Gell. “Altair and Sirius are only a few light-years from Earth. Why didn’t they search?”

The girl looked at him. “They did not know either the exact velocity or direction of the ships. They knew only that the colonists were within a fifty light-year radius of Sol. That’s a big volume of space to cover; it contains a good many planets. Add too, the fact that it takes time and men to search an Earth-type planet for a few hundred people.”

“But they could have done it; why didn’t they?”

“I’m coming to that. The first thing they did—before they struck Earth— was to put up a subetheric interference-screen around the Solar system. They didn’t know that the subradio had been discovered after the colonists left, and they hoped that the new colonies would eventually put in a call to Earth.

“Therefore, they clamped tight controls on Earth. They took away all of our atomic plants, our spaceports, everything. They absolutely forbade any technological experimentation anywhere; our books were burned, our colleges and universities destroyed, and our government scattered.

“Then the Khethani sat down to wait.

“There was only one thing that saved us—or, rather, one man. Edouard Sessen, Earth’s finest psychologist. He had perfected what is now known as the Sessen system of mind-control, which allows human beings to use the full potentialities of their brains.

“It was kept secret, of course, from the invaders, and through it, we kept our technology. In my own memory alone, I have a catalogue of over thirty thousand books.

“Even with that, it was a race against time. We built a fleet of a thousand ships—secretly. Each was to hold eight hundred people. But at about the same time, the Khethani began to realize that the colonists would never contact Earth; they decided to destroy us.”

-

The girl paused to take a sip from her cup, then she continued quietly. “We had perfected a device which would blanket the Khethani velocity-detectors, so that our ships couldn’t be found, even if they were moving at seventy-five percent light-velocity.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.