"Keith Laumer - The Monitors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laumer Keith)

rebuking his star pupil for missing an easy one. "Your help will make my task easier."
"Why should I want to make your task easier?" Blondel demanded.
"Why not?" The Tersh Jetterax smiled disarmingly.
"Well -- you did invade the country," Blondel reminded him.
"Ummm. An unfortunate turn of phrase. Why don't you just think of us as kindly visitors?"
"Kindly visitors don't usually kick out the cops and take over," Blondel pointed out.
"You resent our replacement of your police forces?" The Tersh looked astonished. "But they
were inefficient, inadequate, unjust -- "
"Still, they were my cops, not out- of- town slickers with gas guns that turn healthy Irish
tempers into vacant looks!"
"Your cops? Really, Mr. Blondel -- how much did you, personally, actually have to do with the
administration of police regulations, the appointment of police officers, even with the formulation
of the laws they were charged to enforce?"
 "Well, I had the right to vote for the legislators - - or whoever it is that decides to install parking
meters and No Left Turn signs ... "
"Ummm. The Police Commission. And who appoints them?"
"Beats me," Blondel admitted. "But -- "
"Be candid, Mr. Blondel. Can you in conscience support a system which levies arrest quotas on
uneducated and underpaid factota who busy themselves by subjecting you to embarrassment,
inconvenience, discourtesy, detention and twenty- dollar fines for merely slowing to two miles per
hour instead of coming to a full stop when crossing a deserted intersection - - an intersection built
with your tax money - - while the theft of your bicycle or the rifling of your home by burglars goes
uncorrected, nine times out of ten?"
"Not exactly, but -- "
"We have merely r eplaced an ineffective system with a just and efficient one; an imperfect
government with one totally dedicated to your welfare," the Tersh spelled out placidly. "Now you
can turn your attention to self- development, secure in the knowledge that your society will not
capriciously penalize you for the enrichment or aggrandizement of inept or venal bureaucrats."
"If you don't mind my asking - - why bother to convince me? You've caught me. What happens
now?"
"Mr. Blondel, you are the first of your fellow citizens I've had the pleasure of talking to, face to
face. Your apparent unwillingness to co- operate with your new government is a cause of deep
concern to me."
"I didn't co- operate too well with the old one. I wouldn't hold out much hope for any
improvement."
The Tersh spread his hands and showed an Honest-Bewilderment look. "My government will
conduct your affairs in accordance with the highest principles of your own ethical systems."
"Thanks - - but the fact is, we prefer to conduct our own affairs in accordanc e with whatever
principles strike our fancies."
"This intense loyalty you apparently feel - - to what is it actually attached, Mr. Blondel?" The old
man looked at him as though he suspected him of holding out on the secret of the Universe. "Is it
the countryside, the hills and trees? If so, rest assured we plan no major topographical
modifications. Is it the fluctuating roster of persons who comprise the national population? They
will continue to thrive and, in fact, will find their lot vastly improved. Is it the documents on which
your previous regime was nominally based? Let me put your mind at rest: Our rule will be based
on this same Constitution, more faithfully interpreted than by your own elected officials."
"But at least they were elected," Blondel re minded him.
"Your childlike confidence in the persons who count the votes astonishes me." The Tersh smiled
sympathetically. "And the nominees - - they were your personal choices?"
"Maybe I wouldn't have picked the exact candidates," Blondel hedged, "but -- "