"Lem - Automathew's Friend" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lem Stanislaw)

the insulting form of that command, which does bring to mind our
declaration of friendship, really, how can you express yourself so
unreasonably? How can you say to me 'Get out'? Do I have legs, on
which I might depart? Or even arms, to crawl away? You know
perfectly well that such is not the case. If you wish to be rid of
me, then kindly remove me from your ear, which--I assure you--is not
the most convenient place in the world to be, and throw me
somewhere!"
"Fine!" yelled Automatthew in a fury. "I'll do it right now!" But in
vain did he dig and poke in his ear, using his finger. His friend
had been too carefully wedged within and in no way could he extract
it, though he shook his head in all directions like one insane.
"That evidently isn't going to work," Alfred observed after a long
pause. "It would appear that we shall not part, though this is
neither to your liking nor to mine. If so, then it is a fact we must
accept, for facts have this about them, that the truth is always on
their side. Which applies equally--I note in passing--to your
current situation. You wish to have a future, and at any price. This
seems to me the height of folly, but very well, so be it. Permit me
then to depict this future for you in rough outline, since the known
is always preferable to the unknown.
"The anger which presently convulses you will shortly give way to a
feeling of helpless despair, and this, after a series of efforts--as
violent as they will be unavailing--to find some avenue of escape,
will yield in turn to a mindless stupor. Meanwhile the driving heat
of the sun, which reaches even me in this shaded portion of your
person, will, in accordance with the unrelenting laws of physics and
chemistry, dry out more and more your entire being. First the oil in
your joints will evaporate off, and the least movement will cause
you to squeak and creak dreadfully, poor devil! Next, as your skull
begins to bake in the searing heat, you will see whirling circles of
various colors, but this will bear no similarity to a rainbow,
because..."
"Will you be quiet, you intolerable pest?!" cried Automatthew. "I
don't want to hear what's going to happen to me! Silence, not
another word, do you understand?!"
"You needn't shout. You know perfectly well that your every whisper,
however low, can reach me. And so you do not wish to learn of the
torments that your future holds? Yet on the other hand you wish to
have that future? How illogical! Very well, in that case I will be
silent. I only point out that it is inappropriate for you to be
concentrating your anger on me, as though I were to blame for this
highly regrettable situation you are in. The cause of the misfortune
was, of course, the storm, while I am your friend and my
participation in the tortures that await you, that entire
spectacle--divided into acts--of suffering and slow death, even now
it grieves me to think upon it, yes, the horrifying prospect of what
will happen when your oil..."
"So you won't stop then? Or is it that you can't, you little
monster?!" bellowed Automatthew, and struck himself a blow in the