"Blish, James - Bindlestiff - txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blish James)

Чor they would have tried to kill you, anyhow,Ф he said, with
considerable reluctance. УThat would have been releasing Evil again upon us. The priests say that it was women who brought about the sins of the Great Age. In the bandit cities, to be sure, that savage creed is no longer maintainedЧwhich is one reason why we have so many deserters to the bandit cities. You can have no idea of what it is like to do your duty to the race each year as our law requires. Madness!Ф
He sounded very bitter. УThis is why it is hard to make our people see how suicidal the bandit cities are. Everyone on this world is weary of fighting the jungle, sick of trying to rebuild the Great Age with handfuls of mud, of maintaining social codes which ignore the presence of the jungleЧbut most of all, of serving in the Temple of the Future. In the bandit cities the women are clean, and do not scratch one.Ф
УThe bandit cities donТt fight the jungle?Ф Amalfi asked.
УNo. They prey on those who do. They have given up the religion entirelyЧthe first act of a city which revolts is to slay its priests. Unfortunately, the priesthood is essential; and our beast-women must be borne, since we cannot modiQy one tenet without casting doubt upon allЧor so they tell us. It is only the priesthood which keeps us fighting, only the priesthood which teaches us that it is better to be men than mud-puppies. So we
Чthe techniciansЧfollow the rituals with great strictness, stupid though some of them are, and consider it a matter of no moment that we ourselves do not believe in the gods.Ф
УSense in that,Ф Amalfi admitted. Miramon, in all conscience, was a shrewd apple. If he was representative of as large a section of Hevian thought as he believed himself to be, much might yet be done on this wild and untamed world.
УIt amazes me that you knew to accept the key as a trust,Ф Miramon said. УIt was precisely the proper moveЧbut how could you have guessed that?Ф
Amalfi grinned. УThat wasnТt hard. I know how a man looks when heТs dropping a hot potato. Your priest made all the gestures of a man passing on a sacred trust, but he could hardly wait until heТd got it over with. Incidentally, some of those women are quite presentable now that DeeТs bathed Сem and Medical has taken off the under layers. DonТt look so alarmed, we wonТt tell your priestsЧI gather that weТre the foster fathers of He from here on out.Ф
УYou are thought to be emissaries from the Great Age,Ф Miramon agreed gravely. УWhat you actually are, you have not said.Ф
УTrue. Do you have migratory workers here? The phrase comes easily in your language; yet I canТt see howЧФ
УSurely, surely. The singers, the soldiers, the fruit-pickersЧ all go from city to city, selling their services.Ф Suddenly the Hevian got it. УDo you . . . do you imply . . . that your resources are for sale? For sale to us?Ф
УExactly, Miramon.Ф
УBut how shall we pay you?Ф Miramon gasped. УAll of what we call wealth, all that we have, could not buy a length of the cloth in your sash!Ф
Amalfi thought about it, wondering principally how much of the real situation Miramon could be expected to understand. It occurred to him that he had persistently underestimated the Hevian so far; it might be profitable to try the full doseЧand hope that it wasnТt lethal.

УTTТS this way,Ф Amalfi said. УIn the culture we belong to, a
.1 certain metal, called germanium, serves for money. You have enormous amounts of it on your planet, but itТs very hard to obtain, and IТm sure youТve never even detected it. One of the things we would like is your permission to mine for that metal.Ф
MiramonТs pop-eyed skepticism was comical. УPermission?Ф he squeaked. УPlease, Mayor AmalfiЧis your ethical code as foolish as ours? Why do you not mine this metal without permission and be done with it?Ф
УOur law enforcement agencies would not allow it. Mining your planet would make us richЧalmost unbelievably rich. Our assays show, not only fabulous amounts of germanium, but also the presence of certain drugs in your jungleЧdrugs which are known to be anti-agapicsЧФ
УSir?Ф
УSorry, I mean that, used properly, they cure death.Ф
Miramon rose with great dignity.
УYou are mocking me,Ф he said. УI will return at a later date and perhaps we may talk again.Ф
УSit down, please,Ф Amalfi said contritely. УI had forgotten
that death is not everywhere known to be a disease. It was conquered so long agoЧbefore space flight, as a matter of fact. But the pharmaceuticals involved have always been in very short supply, shorter and shorter as man spread throughout the galaxy. Less than a two-thousandth of one percent of our present population can get the treatment now, and an ampoule of any anti-agapic, even the most inefficient ones, can be sold for the price the seller asks. Not a one of the anti-agapics has ever been synthesized, so if we could harvest hereЧФ
УThat is enough, it is not necessary that I understand more,Ф Miramon said. He squatted again, reflectively. УAll this makes me wonder if you are not from the Great Age after all. WellЧ this is difficult to think about reasonably. Why would your culture object to your being rich?Ф
УIt wouldnТt, as long as we got it honestly. We shall have to show that we worked for our riches. WeТll need a written agreement. A permission.Ф
УThat is clear,Ф Miramon said. УYou will get it, I am sure. I cannot grant it myself. But I can predict what the priests will ask you to do to earn it.Ф
УWhat, then? This is just what I want to know. LetТs have it.Ф
УFirst of all, you will be asked for the secret of this . . . this cure for death. They will want to use it on themselves, and hide it from the rest of us. Wisdom, perhaps; it would make for more desertions otherwiseЧbut I am sure they will want it.Ф
УThey can have it, but weТll see to it that the secret leaks out. The City Fathers know the therapy. What next?Ф
УYou must wipe out the jungle.Ф
Amalfi sat back, stunned. Wipe out the jungle! Oh, it would be easy enough to lay waste almost all of itЧeven to give the Hevians energy weapons to keep those wastes clearЧbut sooner or later, the jungle would come back. The weapons would disintegrate in the eternal moisture, the Hevians would not take proper care of them, would not be able to repair them
Чhow would the brightest Greek have repaired a shattered X-ray tube, even if he had known how? The technology didnТt exist.
No, the jungle would come back. And the cops would come to He to see whether or not the Okie city had fulfilled its contract
Чand would find the planet as raw as ever. Good-by to riches.
This was jungle climate. There would be jungles here until the next Draysonian catastrophe, and that was that.
УExcuse me,Ф he said, and reached for the control helmet.
УGive me the City Fathers,Ф he said into the mouthpiece.
УSPEAK,Ф the spokesman vodeur said after a while. УHow would you go about wiping out a jungle?Ф There was a momentТs silence. УSODIUM FLUOSILICATE
SPRAY WOULD SERVE. IN A WET CLIMATE IT WOULD
CREATE FATAL LEAF-BLISTER. ALSO THERE IS A FORGOTTEN COMPOUND, 2,4-D WHICH WOULD SERVE FOR
STUBBORN SECTIONS. OF COURSE THE JUNGLE
WOULD RETURN.Ф
УThatТs what I meant. Any way to make the job stick?Ф
УNO, UNLESS THE PLANET EXHIBITS DRAYSONIANISMФ
УWhat?Ф
УNO, UNLESS THE PLANET EXHIBITS DRAYSONIANISM. IN THAT CASE ITS AXIS MIGHT BE REGULARIZED.
IT HAS NEVER BEEN TRIED, BUT THEORETICALLY IT IS