"Harry Harrison - Galactic Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

"Exactly!тАЭ

Numen sprang to his feet and began to pace agitatedly up and down the room.
"If that wasn't true, wasn't the heart of the problem, I would never consider
being involved. There would be no problem if Barre suffered a heart attack and
fell dead tomorrow.тАЭ


The three older men were all looking at David now, though he didn't know why,
and he felt they were waiting for him to say something.

"Well, yes - I agree. A little coronary embolism right now would be the best
thing for the world that I can think of. Barre dead would be of far greater
service to mankind than Barre alive has ever been.тАЭ

The silence lengthened, became embarrassing, and it was finally Eigg who broke
it with his dry mechanical tones.

"We are all then in agreement that Barre's death would be of immense benefit.
In that case, David, you must also agree that it would be fine if he could be
. . . killed. . . .тАЭ

"Not a bad idea," David said, wondering where all this talk was going. "Though
of course that is a physical impossibility. It must be centuries since the
last . . . what's the word, `murder' took place. The developmental psychology
work took care of that a long time ago. As the twig is bent and all that sort
of thing. Wasn't that supposed to be the discovery that finally separated man
from the lower orders, the proof that we could entertain the thought of
killing and discuss it, yet still be trained in our early childhood so that we
would not be capable of the act. Surely, if you can believe the textbooks, the
human race has progressed immeasurably since the curse of killing has been
removed. Look-do you mind if I ask you what this is all about... ?тАЭ

"Barre can be killed," Eigg said in an almost inaudible voice. "There is one
man in the world who can kill him.тАЭ

"Who?тАЭ David asked and in some terrible way he knew the answer even before the
words came from his father's trembling lips.

"You, David . . . you....тАЭ He sat, unmoving, and his thoughts went back
through the years, and a number of things that had been bothering him were now
made clear. His attitudes so subtly different from his friends', and that time
with the airship when one of the rotors had killed a squirrel. Little puzzling
things - and sometimes worrying ones that had kept him awake long after the
rest of the house was asleep. It was true, he knew it without a shadow of a
doubt, and wondered why he had never realized it before. But, like a hideous
statue buried in the ground beneath one's feet, it had always been there but
had never been visible until he had dug down and reached it. It was visible
now with all the earth scraped from its vile face, all the lineaments of evil
clearly revealed.