"Robert A. Heinlein - Job, A Comedy of Justice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

тАЪThey do it through the fourth dimension,тАЩ the Mystic
announced. тАЪIsnтАЩt that true, Gwendolyn!тАЩ
тАЪQuite true, dear,тАЩ the Numerologist agreed. тАЪOh, here they come now! It will
be an odd number, youтАЩll see.тАЩ
тАЪYouтАЩre so learned, dear.тАЩ
тАЪHumph,тАЩ said the Skeptic.
The native who was assisting our shipтАЩs excursion host raised his arms and
spread his palms for silence. тАЪPlease, will you all listen! Mauruuru roa. Thank
you very much. The high priest and priestess will now pray the Gods to make
the fire safe for the villagers. I ask you to remember that this is a religious
ceremony, very ancient; please behave as you would in your own church.
Because -тАЪ
An extremely old kanaka interrupted; he and the translator exchanged words
in a language not known to me Polynesian, I assumed; it had the right liquid
flow to it. The younger kanaka turned back to us.
тАЪThe high priest tells me that some of the children are making their first walk
through fire today, including that baby over there in her motherтАЩs arms. He
asks all of you to keep perfectly silent during the prayers, to insure the safety
of the children. Let me add that I am a Catholic. At this point I always ask our
Holy Mother Mary to watch over our children - and I ask all of you to pray for
them in your own way. Or at least keep silent and think good thoughts for
them. If the high priest is not satisfied that there is a reverent attitude, he
wonтАЩt let the children enter the fire - IтАЩve even known him to cancel the entire
ceremony.
тАЪThere you have it, Gerald,тАЩ said the Authority-on-Everything in a third-
balcony whisper. тАЪThe build-up. Now the switch, and theyтАЩll blame it on us.тАЩ
He snorted.
The Authority - his name was Cheevers - had been annoying me ever since I
had joined the ship. I leaned forward and said quietly into his ear, тАЪIf those
children walk through the fire, do you have the guts to do likewise?тАЩ
Let this be a lesson to you. Learn by my bad example. Never let an oaf cause
you to lose your judgement. Some seconds later I found that my challenge
had been turned against me and. -somehow! - all three, the Authority, the
Skeptic, and the Well-Traveled Man, had each bet me a hundred that I would
not dare walk the fire pit, stipulating that the children walked first.
Then the translator was shushing us again and the priest and priestess
stepped down into the fire pit and everybody kept very quiet and I suppose
some of us prayed. I know I did. I found myself reciting what popped into my
mind:
тАЪNow I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep-тАЪ

Somehow it seemed appropriate.
The priest and the priestess did not walk through the fire; they did-something
quietly more spectacular and (it seemed to me) far more dangerous. They
simply stood in the fire pit, barefooted, and prayed for several minutes. I
could see their lips move. Every so often the old priest sprinkled something
into the pit. Whatever it was, as it struck the coals it burst into sparkles.
I tried to see what they were standing on, coals or rocks, but I could not tell...