"Stanislaw Lem - The Offer Of King Krool" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lem Stanislaw)

тАЬThere's one difficulty. You see, if the King defeats our mechanical beast, he'll undoubtedly
have us thrown into that pit, for we won't have done his bidding. If, on the other hand, the
beast... You see what I mean?тАЭ
тАЬIf the beast isn't defeated?тАЭ
тАЬNo, if the beast defeats him, dear colleague. If that happens, the King's successor may
not let us off so easily.тАЭ
тАЬYou don't think we'd have to answer for that, do you? As a rule, heirs to the throne are
only too happy to see it vacated.тАЭ
тАЬTrue, but this will be his son, and whether the son punishes us out of filial devotion or
because he thinks the royal court expects it of him, it'll make little difference as far as we're
concerned.тАЭ
тАЬThat never occurred to me,тАЭ muttered Klapaucius. тАЬYou're quite right, the prospects aren't
encouraging . Have you thought of a way out of this dilemma?тАЭ
тАЬWell, we might make the beast multimortal. Picture this: the King slays it, it falls, then it
gets up again, resurrected, and the King chases it again, slays it again, and so on, until he
gets sick and tired of the whole thing.тАЭ
тАЬThat he won't like,тАЭ said Klapaucius after some thought. тАЬAnd anyway, how would you
design such a beast?тАЭ
тАЬOh, I don't know... We could make it without any vital organs.
The King chops the beast into little pieces, but the pieces grow back together.тАЭ
тАЬHow?тАЭ
тАЬUse a field.тАЭ
тАЬMagnetic?тАЭ
тАЬIf you like.тАЭ
тАЬHow do we operate it?тАЭ
тАЬRemote control, perhaps?тАЭ asked Trurl.
тАЬToo risky,тАЭ said Klapaucius. тАЬHow do you know the King won't have us locked up in some
dungeon while the hunt's in progress?
Our poor predecessors were ┬╣fools, and look how they ended up.
More than one of them, I'm sure, thought of remote controlтАФyet it failed. No, we can't
expect to maintain communication with the beast during the battle.тАЭ
тАЬThen why not use a satellite?тАЭ suggested Trurl. тАЬWe could install automatic controlsтАжтАЭ
тАЬSatellite indeed!тАЭ snorted Klapaucius. тАЬAnd how are you going to build it, let alone put it in
orbit? There are ┬╣miracles in our profession, Trurl! We'll have to hide the controls some other
way.тАЭ
тАЬBut where can we hide the controls when they watch our every step? You've seen how
the servants skulk about, sticking their noses into everything We'd never be able to leave the
premises ourselves, and certainly not smuggle out such a large piece of equipment. It's
impossible!тАЭ
тАЬCalm down,тАЭ said prudent Klapaucius, looking over his shoulder.
тАЬPerhaps we don't need such equipment in the first place.тАЭ
тАЬSomething has to operate the beast, and if that something is an electronic brain anywhere
inside, the King will smash it to a pulp before you can say goodbye.тАЭ


Fierce Simulations

They were silent. Night had fallen and the village lights below were flickering on, one by
one. Suddenly Trurl said:
тАЬListen, here's an idea. We only pretend to build a beast but in reality build a ship to