（外文电子版资料）Frederik Pohl - Furthest Star - 1.pdf

Frederik Pohl Jack Williamson Farthest star The saga of Cuckoo Pan Books London and Sydney First published in Great Britain 1976 by Pan Books Ltd, Cavaye Place, London SW10 9PO © Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson 1975 ISBN 0 330 24639 9 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox Wyman Ltd, London, Reading and Fakenham This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser Part 1 Doomship 1 The place was called Sun One. It had begun as an asteroid, circling a young blue-white giant in the great dense cloud called the Orion Nebula. Over centuries it had been built upon, sheathed and tunnelled; and what it had become was the closest thing there was to a central headquarters of the loose association of intelligent races in the Galaxy that had made contact with one another. In one of the inner shells two members of a very junior race were meeting. They came from Earth. They loved each other. They were young. They planned to marry. All these things made them curiosities to the races which possessed personal curiosity, and they were widely watched, heard or sensed as they came towards each other. They didnt mind. Ben Charles Pertin saw the girl and launched himself in a shallow three-percent gravity dive over the heads of a thing like a dragon, a creature composed mostly of a single great blue eye and a couple of scurrying collective creatures from one of the core stars. Sorry, he cried down at them, caught the laughing girls hand and stopped hard beside her. “Ouch,” she said, releasing a holdfast with her other hand. “Id appreciate a little less enthusiasm next time.” He kissed her and