But it was not only rank or precedence. He knew the ship. He had workeddirectly under the holy men from the Foundation itself in repairing theship. He had gone over the motors under their orders. He had rewired the'visors; revamped the communications system; replated the punctured1 hull;reinforced the beams. He had even been permitted to help while the wise menof the Foundation had installed a device so holy it had never been placedin any previous ship, but had been reserved only for this magnificentcolossus of a vessel2 ?a hyperwave relay.
It was no wonder that he felt heartsick over the purposes to which theglorious ship was perverted3. He had never wanted to believe what Verisofhad told him ? that the ship was to be used for appalling4 wickedness; thatits guns were to be turned on the great Foundation. Turned on thatFoundation, where he had been trained as a youth, from which allblessedness was derived5.
Yet he could not doubt now, after what the admiral had told him.
How could the king, divinely blessed, allow this abominable6 act? Or was itthe king? Was it not, perhaps, an action of the accursed regent, Wienis,without the knowledge of the king at all. And it was the son of this sameWienis that was the admiral who five minutes before had told him:
"Attend to your souls and your blessings7, priest. I will attend to myship."Aporat smiled crookedly9. He would attend to his souls and his blessings ?
and also to his cursings; and Prince Lefkin would whine10 soon enough.
He had entered the general communications room now. His. acolyte11 precededhim and the two officers in charge made no move to interfere12. The headpriest-attendant had the right of free entry anywhere on the ship.
"Close the door," Aporat ordered, and looked at the chronometer13. It lackedFive minutes of twelve. He had timed it well.
With quick practiced motions, he moved the little levers that opened allcommunications, so that every part of the two-mile-long ship was withinreach of his voice and his image.
"Soldiers of the royal flagship Wienis, attend! It is your priest-attendantthat speaks!" The sound of his voice reverberated, he knew, from the stematom blast in the extreme rear to the navigation tables in the prow14.
"Your ship," he cried, "is engaged in sacrilege. Without your knowledge, itis performing such an act as will doom15 the soul of every man among you tothe eternal frigidity16 of space! Listen! It is the intention of yourcommander to take this ship to the Foundation and there to bombard thatsource of all blessings into submission17 to his sinful will. And since thatis his intention, I, in the name of the Galactic Spirit, remove him fromhis command, for there is no command where the blessing8 of the GalacticSpirit has been withdrawn18. The divine king himself may not maintain hiskingship without the consent of the Spirit."His voice took on a deeper tone, while the acolyte listened with venerationand the two soldiers with mounting fear. "And because this ship is uponsuch a devil's errand, the blessing of the Spirit is removed from it aswell."He lifted his arms solemnly, and before a thousand televisors throughoutthe ship, soldiers cowered, as the stately image of their priest-attendantspoke:
"In the name of the Galactic Spirit and of his prophet, Hari Seldon, and ofhis interpreters, the holy men of the Foundation, I curse this ship. Letthe televisors of this ship, which are its eyes, become blind. Let itsgrapples, which are its arms, be paralyzed. Let the nuclear blasts, whichare its fists, lose their function. Let the motors, which are its heart,cease to beat. Let the communications, which are its voice, become dumb.
Let its ventilations, which are its breath, fade. Let its lights, which areits soul, shrivel into nothing. In the name of the Galactic Spirit, I socurse this ship."And with his last word, at the stroke of midnight, a hand, light-yearsdistant in the Argolid Temple, opened an ultrawave relay, which at theinstantaneous speed of the ultrawave, opened another on the flagshipWienis.
And the ship died!
For it is the chief characteristic of the religion of science that itworks, and that such curses as that of Aporat's are really deadly.
Aporat saw the darkness close down on the ship and heard the sudden ceasingof the soft, distant purring of the hyperatomic motors. He exulted19 and fromthe pocket of his long robe withdrew a self-powered nucleo-bulb that filledthe room with pearly light.
He looked down at the two soldiers who, brave men though they undoubtedlywere, writhed20 on their knees in the last extremity21 of mortal terror. "Saveour souls, your reverence22. We are poor men, ignorant of the crimes of ourleaders," one whimpered.
"Follow," said Aporat, sternly. "Your soul is not yet lost."The ship was a turmoil23 of darkness in which fear was so thick and palpable,it was all but a miasmic24 smell. Soldiers crowded close wherever Aporat andhis circle of light passed, striving to touch the hem25 of his robe, pleadingfor the tiniest scrap26 of mercy.
And always his answer was, "Follow me!"He found Prince Lefkin, groping his way through the officers' quarters,cursing loudly for lights. The admiral stared at the priest-attendant withhating eyes.
"There you are!" Lefkin inherited his blue eyes from his mother, but therewas that about the hook in his nose and the squint27 in his eye that markedhim as the son of Wienis. "What is the meaning of your treasonable actions?
Return the power to the ship. I am commander here.""No longer," said Aporat, somberly.
Lefkin looked about wildly. "Seize that man. Arrest him, or by Space, Iwill send every man within reach of my voice out the air lock in the nude28."He paused, and then shrieked29, "It is your admiral that orders. Arrest him."Then, as he lost his head entirely30, "Are you allowing yourselves to befooled by this mountebank, this harlequin? Do you cringe before a religioncompounded of clouds and moonbeams? This man is an imposter and theGalactic Spirit he speaks of a fraud of the imagination devised to?
Aporat interrupted furiously. "Seize the blasphemer. You listen to him atthe peril31 of your souls."And promptly, the noble admiral went down under the clutching hands of ascore of soldiers.
"Take him with you and follow me."Aporat turned, and with Lefkin dragged along after him, and the corridorsbehind black with soldiery, he returned to the communications room. There,he ordered the ex-commander before the one televisor that worked.
"Order the rest of the fleet to cease course and to prepare for the returnto Anacreon."The disheveled Lefkin, bleeding, beaten, and half stunned, did so.
"And now," continued Aporat, grimly, "we are in contact with Anacreon onthe hyperwave beam. Speak as I order you."Lefkin made a gesture of negation32, and the mob in the room and the otherscrowding the corridor beyond, growled33 fearfully.
"Speak!" said Aporat. "Begin: The Anacreonian navy?
Lefkin began.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
punctured
|
|
| v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
perverted
|
|
| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
appalling
|
|
| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
derived
|
|
| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
abominable
|
|
| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
blessings
|
|
| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
blessing
|
|
| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
crookedly
|
|
| adv. 弯曲地，不诚实地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
whine
|
|
| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
acolyte
|
|
| n.助手，侍僧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
chronometer
|
|
| n.精密的计时器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
prow
|
|
| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
frigidity
|
|
| n.寒冷；冷淡；索然无味；（尤指妇女的）性感缺失 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
submission
|
|
| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
withdrawn
|
|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
exulted
|
|
| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
writhed
|
|
| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
reverence
|
|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
turmoil
|
|
| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
miasmic
|
|
| adj.瘴气的；有害的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
25
hem
|
|
| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
scrap
|
|
| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
squint
|
|
| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
nude
|
|
| adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
shrieked
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
peril
|
|
| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
negation
|
|
| n.否定；否认 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |