"Mark S. Geston - Lords Of The Starship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Geston Mark S)

"Hardly. Please continue," breathed Limpkin, more relieved than anything
else.
"Do you remember, once several years ago, I had had lunch with you and
several other officials? And do you remember that you had taken me aside and
remarked that the trouble with the World lay not in its barren fields, but
within the spirits of the men who inhabit them?"
"Yes, of course. As a matter of fact, I had been thinking of that very
instance on the walk here."
"Good, fine. I have a report" -- Toriman lifted a fat folder from the
desk -- "whose contents I will not bore you with." He dropped it with a slight
smile. "In substance, though, it says almost exactly what you had suspected:
something has been lost. Call it the ego, the will to power, or whatever you
mean; we both know what I am talking about."
"Then I was right?" Limpkin asked a little incredulously.
"Oh, quite right. Now, don't go complimenting yourself," Toriman said,
smiling, the firelight glittering off his shadowcloaked eyes. "Many men have
suspected it before. The trouble is that few could prove it and fewer still
would admit it to themselves. I must confess that even I had some trouble in
getting used to the idea that most of the people alive today are virtually
emotional eunuchs.
"But that is true, as I said, of only most. I hope that I am not being
overly vain in considering myself in the minority. And I hope that my
estimation of you, Limpkin, is equally correct. But back to the report. . . ."
Toriman picked up the folder once again and began leafing through it.
"This essence, which neither of us can precisely name, was probably lost
long ago before any modern records were penned. But the legends, as far as I
can tell, contain a great deal of truth. I have traveled much in the service
of my country" -- Limpkin thought he could detect a trace of disgust, but he
chose to disregard it -- "into many strange -- the rabble would call them
enchanted -- lands and I have seen many of the relics that our fathers left
behind. They are older than you or I can ever possibly imagine; their
character strikes the people dumb with awe -- which, of course, defines our
whole problem right there. The Grayfields with its fleets of spectral
aircraft, overgrown with fireweeds and vines, but as real as my hand. The
Fortress at the mouth of the Tyne River -- beside it even my ancient and
mighty Clatroon appears to be a wooden lash-up built only yesterday."
Limpkin was amazed and somewhat frightened to find the myths of his
provincial childhood suddenly acquiring awesome substance; but he also found
an odd comfort in it. "Please go on."
Toriman looked into his eyes for an instant and nodded. "Go on? How far
shall I go on? For every legend there are ten actual wonders. The hulks of
great ships, aircraft, and machines litter the edges of the World, and not
even the legends attempt to understand them."
"Just by way of curiosity, why have we not heard more of these things?"
Toriman shrugged. "Who can say? The World is an incredibly vast place,
far outpacing the estimates of even the wisest geographers. It is easy for
even works of the Tyne Fortress' magnitude to become lost in it.
"Our World, Limpkin, the civilized one, is but a small island. The
ravages of a hundred thousand pogroms, wars, inquisitions, and 'rectifications
of history' have further helped to erase any sure knowledge of the past. The