"Henry Kuttner - Mimsy Were The Borogoves" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

тАЬMay I come again?тАЭ
тАЬI wish you would,тАЭ Jane told him. тАЬAny time. You still thinkтАФтАЭ He nodded. тАЬThe childrenтАЩs minds are not reacting
normally. TheyтАЩre not dull at all, but IтАЩve the most extraordinary impression that they ar-rive at conclusions in a way we
donтАЩt understand. As though they used algebra while we used geometry. The same conclusion, but a different method
of reaching it.тАЭ
тАЬWhat about the toys?тАЭ Paradine asked suddenly.
тАЬKeep them out of the way. IтАЩd like to borrow them, if I may.тАЭ

That night Paradine slept badly. HollowayтАЩs parallel had been ill chosen. It led to disturbing theories. The x factor...

The children were using the equivalent of algebraic reasoning, while adults used geometry.
Fair enough. Only.
Algebra can give you answers that geometry cannot, since there are certain terms and symbols which cannot be
expressed geometrically. Suppose x logic showed conclusions inconceivable to an adult mind.
тАЬDamn!тАЭ Paradine whispered. Jane stirred beside him.
тАЬDear? CanтАЩt you sleep either?тАЭ
тАЬNo.тАЭ He got up and went into the next room. Emma slept peacefully as a cherub, her fat arm curled around Mr. Bear.
Through the open doorway Paradine could see ScottтАЩs dark head motionless on the pillow.
Jane was beside him. He slipped his arm around her.
тАЬPoor little people,тАЭ she murmured. тАЬAnd Holloway called them mad. I think weтАЩre the ones who are crazy, Dennis.тАЭ
тАЬUh-huh. WeтАЩve got jitters.тАЭ
Scott stirred in his sleep. Without awakening, he called what was
obviously a question, though it did not seem to be in any particular lan-guage. Emma gave a little mewling cry that
changed pitch sharply.
She had not wakened. The children lay without stirring.
But, Paradine thought, with a sudden sickness in his middle, it was exactly as though Scott had asked Emma
something, and she had re-plied.
Had their minds changed so that evenтАФsleep was different to them?
He thrust the thought away. тАЬYouтАЩll catch cold. LetтАЩs get back to bed. Want a drink?тАЭ
тАЬI think I do,тАЭ Jane said, watching Emma. Her hand reached out blindly towards the child; she drew it back. тАЬCome
on. WeтАЩll wake the kids.тАЭ
They drank a little brandy together, but said nothing. Jane cried in her sleep, later.

Scott was not awake, but his mind worked in slow, careful building. ThusтАФ тАШTheyтАЩll take the toys away. The fat
manтАФlistava dangerous, maybe.
But the Ghoric direction wonтАЩt showтАФevankrus dun hasnтАЩt them. In-transdectionтАФbright and shiny. Emma. SheтАЩs
more khopranik-high now thanтАФI still donтАЩt see how toтАФthavarar lixery dist. .

A little of ScottтАЩs thoughts could still be understood. But Emma had become conditioned to x much faster.
She was thinking, too.
Not like an adult or a child. Not even like a human being. Except, perhaps, a human being of a type shockingly
unfamiliar to genus Homo.
Sometimes, Scott himself had difficulty in following her thoughts. If it had not been for Holloway, life might have
settled back into an almost normal routine. The toys were no longer active reminders. Emma still enjoyed her dolls and
sandpile, with a thoroughly explicable de-light. Scott was satisfied with baseball and his chemical set. They did
everything other children did, and evinced few, if any, flashes of ab-normality. But Holloway seemed to be an alarmist.
He was having the toys tested, with rather idiotic results. He drew endless charts and diagrams, corresponded with
mathematicians, en-gineers and other psychologists, and went quietly crazy trying to find rhyme or reason in the
construction of the gadgets. The box itself, with its cryptic machinery, told nothing. Fusing had melted too much of
the stuff into slag. But the toys