"Damon Knight - Short Stories Vol 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Knight Damon)

I quit my job with the U.N. a few months later, because I foresaw that it was going to die under me
anyhow. U.N. business was booming at the time, but after a year or so there was going to be nothing for
it to do. Every nation on Earth was well on the way to being completely self-supporting; they weren't
going to need much arbitration.

I accepted a position as translator with the Kanamit Embassy, and it was there that I ran into Grigori
again. I was glad to see him, but I couldn't imagine what he was doing there.

тАЬI thought you were on the opposition,тАЭ I said. тАЬDon't tell me you're convinced the Kanamit are all right.тАЭ

He looked rather shamefaced. тАЬThey're not what they look, anyhow,тАЭ he said.

It was as much of a concession as he could decently make, and I invited him down to the embassy
lounge for a drink. It was an intimate kind of place, and he grew confidential over the second daiquiri.

тАЬThey fascinate me,тАЭ he said. тАЬI hate them instinctively stillтАФthat hasn't changedтАФbut I can evaluate it.
You were right, obviously; they mean us nothing but good. But do you knowтАФтАЭ he leaned across the
tableтАФ"the question of the Soviet delegate was never answered.тАЭ
I am afraid I snorted.

тАЬNo, really,тАЭ he said. They told us what they wanted to doтАФ'to bring to you the peace and plenty which
we ourselves enjoy.тАЩ But they didn't saywhy .тАЭ

тАЬWhy do missionariesтАФтАЭ

тАЬMissionaries be damned!тАЭ he said angrily. тАЬMissionaries have a religious motive. If these creatures have
a religion, they haven't once mentioned it. What's more, they didn't send a missionary group; they sent a
diplomatic delegationтАФa group representing the will and policy of their whole people. Now just what
have the Kanamit, as a people or a nation, got to gain from our welfare?тАЭ

I said, тАЬCulturalтАФтАЭ

тАЬCultural cabbage soup! No, it's something less obvious than that, something obscure that belongs to
their psychology and not to ours. But trust me, Peter, there is no such thing as a completely disinterested
altruism. In one way or another, they have something to gain.тАЭ

тАЬAnd that's why you're here,тАЭ I said. тАЬTo try to find out what it is.тАЭ

тАЬCorrect. I wanted to get on one of the ten-year exchange groups to their home planet, but I couldn't; the
quota was filled a week after they made the announcement. This is the next best thing. I'm studying their
language, and you know that language reflects the basic assumptions of the people who use it. I've got a
fair command of the spoken lingo already. It's not hard, really, and there are hints in it. Some of the
idioms are quite similar to English. I'm sure I'll get the answer eventually.тАЭ

тАЬMore power,тАЭ I said, and we went back to work.

I saw Grigori frequently from then on, and he kept me posted about his progress. He was highly excited
about a month after that first meeting; said he'd got hold of a book of the Kanamit's and was trying to
puzzle it out. They wrote in ideographs, worse than Chinese, but he was determined to fathom it if it took
him years. He wanted my help.