"Joe Haldeman - The Gift" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haldeman Joe)

THE GIFT
Feel behind the ear, the small hole
(left for women, right for men). Now
insert the wire until a cold
sensation comes beneath the eye. See how

twirling the wire makes you smile?
When it feels like sunshine on your face,
raise your hand. In a little while
a friend will come to calibrate. Solace

will be yours another year. Just
turn the wire until it feels like sun;
that's good. Another year of trust.
No fear. Loving peace for everyone.

I take the wire and bend it till it breaks!
They can't do this! Can't you see it makes
us into simple blobs of happy clay?
Most of us can think back to a day
when living wasn't easy. There was pain
and trouble in the worldтАФbut then again,
at least it all was real. What they destroy
is not just pain, but love, and awe, and joy.

One unit fails to comprehend
this can't be done unless it's done for all.
His childish need for pain could end
this heaven that we've made for you. You called
for us in desperate need. You prayed
that somehow we could save you from your fate.
An so we came in answer. But we said
you'd have to change your nature. It's too late
to turn you into angels. Now
the best that we can do is try to make
you harmless. Don't ask how.
Trust in us. We do it for your sake.
So long as one man lives who won't submit,
then all your words and wires won't work. That's it.
Right? For all your talk, you just want slaves.
I can't believe that no one else is brave
enough to break the wire and take the world
as it was given usтАФa clashing whirl
of good and bad in nearly equal parts.
Not turned to harmless pap by your black arts.

We will not argue. But we care
how this experiment turns out. Let's try
a kind of vote. If there
is only on in ten who'll take your side