《Empress Irene 1 Space Mercenaries》作者： - A. Bertram Chandler 【EPUB】

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SPACE MERCENARIES By A. Bertram Chandler Scanned by BW-SciFi Copyright (c), 1965, by Ace Books, Inc. All Rights Reserved I "I LIKE MONEY," remarked the ex-Empress Irene. "I have always liked money. But I possess a conscience. A luxury," she added thoughtfully, "which I can now afford to indulge." "Mmph?" grunted her husband, as he made a fractional adjustment to the gain control. "When I was Empress," she went on, "things were different. I could do, or order to be done, things that now would make me shudder. As a private citizen I can weigh the consequences - the immediate ones, I mean, not the long-range ones. It's no longer my concern what will work out best for the Empire a hundred or a thousand years from today. But I am concerned with the effects of any action of mine upon the ordinary people now." Trafford sighed, and straightened up from the chart tank with which he had been tinkering. It was obvious to him that he would not be allowed to work undisturbed. He turned to look at his wife, to look up at his wife. He was a small man, compact and wiry, a typical naval officer of his day and age, while she, like all of those selected, through the years, to occupy the non-hereditary throne of the Empire, conformed to the standards imposed by the Committee, the