"Fritz Leiber - The Number of the Beast" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leiber Fritz)

тАЬNo. IтАЩll come to the telepathy angle later. The Arcturi-ans are split into twoтАЭ parties: those who want to
enter the Commerce Union and open their planets to alien star-ships, including EarthтАЩsтАФthe peace party,
in shortтАФand those who favour a policy of strict non-intercourse which, as far as we know, always
intimately leads to war. The war party is rather the stronger of the two. Any event may tip the balance.тАЭ

тАЬSuch as a representative of the peace party coming

quietly to Earth and getting himself bumped before he

even gets down from High Chicago?тАЭ <^

тАЬExactly. It looks bad, Scan. It looks as if we wanted war. The other member peoples of the Commerce
Union are skeptical enough already about the ultimate peace-fulness of EarthтАЩs intentions toward the
whole Galaxy. r. They look on the Arcturian situation as a test. They say that we accepted the Polarians
and Antareans and all the rest as equals simply because they are so different from us in form and
cultureтАФitтАЩs easy to admit theoretical equality with a bumblebee, say, and then perhaps do him dirt
afterward.

тАЬBut, our galactic critics ask, will Earthmen be so ready or willing to admit equality with a humanoid
race? ItтАЩs sometimes harder, you know, to agree that your own brother is a human being than to grant the
title to an anonymous peasant on the other side of the globe. They sayтАФI continue to speak for our
galactic criticsтАФthat Earthmen will openly work for peace with Arcturus while secretly sabotaging it.тАЭ

тАЬIncluding murder.тАЭ

тАЬRight, Sean. So unless we can pin this crime on aliens тАФbest of all on extremists in the Arcturian war
party (something I believe but can in no way prove)-тАФthe rumour will go through the Union that Earth
wants war, while the Arcturian Earth-haters will have everything their own way.тАЭ

тАЬLeave off the background, Jim. How was the murder done?тАЭ

Permitting himself a bitter smile, the Young Captain said wistfully, тАЬWith the whole Galaxy for a poison
cabi-net and a weapon shop, with almost every means available of subtle disguise, of sudden approach
and instantaneous getawayтАФeverything but a time machine, and some crook will come along with that
any day nowтАФthe murder had to be done with a blunt instrument and by one of four aliens domiciled in
the same caravansary as the Arcturian peace-party man.

тАЬThereтАЩs something very ugly, donтАЩt you think, in the vision of a blackjack gripped by the tentacle of an
octo-poid or in the pincers of a black Martian? To be frank, Sean, IтАЩd rather the killer had been fancier
in his modus Operandi. It would have let me dump the heavy end of the case in the laps of the science
boys.тАЭ

тАЬI was always grateful myself when I could invoke the physicists,тАЭ the Old Lieutenant agreed, тАЬItтАЩs
marvellous what coloured lights and the crackle of Geiger counters do to take the pressure off a plain
policeman. These four aliens you mention are the telepaths?тАЭ

тАЬRight, Scan. Shady characters, too, all four of them, criminals for hire, which makes it harder. And each
of them takes the typical telepath point of viewтАФAlmighty, how it exasperates me! That we ought to
know which one of them is guilty without asking questions! They know well enough that Earthmen arenтАЩt
telepathic, but still they hide behind the lofty pretence that every intelligent inhabitant of the Cosmos must