"01 - Midnight at the Well of Souls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

and continuing rate. We believe that this computer
beneath your feet was composed of infinitely complex
artificial brain cells. Imagine that! It runs the entirety
of the planet, a kilometer thickЧall brain. And all,

3

we believe, attuned to the individual brain waves of
the inhabitants of this city!

."Imagine it, if you can. Just wish for something, and
there it is. Food, furnitureЧif they used anyЧeven
art, created by the mind of the wisher and made real
by the computer. We have, of course, small and prim-
itive versions nowЧbut this is generations, possibly
millennia, beyond us. If you could think of it, it would
be provided'"

"This Utopian Theory accounts for most of what we
see, but not why all this is now ruins," piped in an
adolescent male voice, Varnett, the youngestЧand
probably brightestЧbut unquestionably the most imag-
inative of the group.

"Quite true. Citizen Vamett," Skander acknowl-
edged, "and there are three schools of thought on it.
One is that the computer broke down, and another is
that the computer ran amokЧand the people couldn't
cope either way. You know the third theory, anyone?"

"Stagnation," Jainet replied. "They died because
they had nothing left to live for, strive for, or work
for."

"Exactly," Skander replied. "And yet, there are
problems with all three suppositions. An interstellar
culture of this magnitude would have allowed for break-
downs; they'd have some sort of backup system. As
for the amok theoryЧwell, it's fine except that every
sign shows that the same thing happened at once, all
across their entire empire. One, even several, okay,
but not all at the same time. I am not quite willing to
accept the last theory, even though it is the one that
fits the best. Something nags at me and says that they
would have allowed even for that."

"Maybe they programmed their own degeneration,"
Varnett suggested, "and it went too far."

"Eh?" There was a note of surprise but keen interest