"Tuf Voyaging - 07 - Manna From Heaven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

УIt will feed the SТuthlamese,Ф said Tuf. Dax was purring.
УFor how many days?Ф asked the woman from HenryТs World, in a sweet voice that dripped sarcasm.
УFirst Councillor, if you would be so kind as to break off one of the larger paps, you will find the flesh delectably succulent and quite nutritious,Ф Tuf said.
Tolly Mune leaned forward, grimacing. She wrapped her fingers around the largest fruit. It felt soft and pulpy to her touch. She tugged, and it came off the vine easily. She broke it apart with her fingers. The flesh tore like fresh bread. Deep within its secret center was a sac of dark, viscous liquid that flowed with seductive slowness. A marvelous smell filled her nostrils, and she began to salivate. She hesitated for an instant, but it smelled too good. Quickly, she took a bite. She chewed, swallowed, took another bite, and another. In four bites it was all gone, and she was licking the stickiness off her fingers.
УMilkbread,Ф she said, Уand honey. Rich, but tasty.Ф
УNor will the taste pall,Ф Tuf announced. УThe secretions in the heart of each palp are mildly narcotic. They are individual with each specimen of the manna plant, its distinct and subtle flavors a factor of the chemical composition of the soil in which the plant has taken root and the genetic heritage of the plant itself. The range of tastes is quite broad, and can be further expanded through cross-breeding.Ф
УHold on,Ф Ratch Norren said loudly. He tugged at his cheek and frowned. УSo this damned bread-and-honey fruit tastes just swell, sure, sure. So what? So the Suthies have something tasty to snack on after they make some more little Suthies. A nice treat to relieve the tedium of conquering Vandeen and breeding all over it. Pardon, folks, but Ratch donТt feel like applauding right now.Ф
Tolly Mune frowned. УHeТs rude,Ф she said, Уbut heТs right. YouТve given us miracle plants before, Tuf. Omni-grain, remember? NeptuneТs shawl. Jersee-pods. HowТs manna going to be any different?Ф
УIn several respects,Ф said Haviland Tuf. УFirstly, my previous efforts have been directed at making your ecology more efficient, to increasing the caloric output from the finite areas of SТuthlam given over to agriculture, to getting more from less, as it were. Unfortunately, I did not adequately account for the perversity of the human species. As you yourself have reported, the SТuthlamese food chain is still far from maximum efficiency. Though you have meatbeasts to provide protein, you persist in raising and feeding wasteful herd animals, simply because some of your wealthier carnivores prefer the taste of such flesh to a slice of a meatbeast. Similarly, you continue to grow omni-grain and nanowheat for reasons of flavor and culinary variety, where jersee-pods would yield you more calories per square meter. Succinctly put, the SТuthlamese still persist in choosing hedonism over rationality. So be it. MannaТs addictive properties and flavors are unique. Once the SТuthlamese have eaten of it, you will enounter no resistance on the grounds of taste.Ф
УMaybe,Ф Tolly Mune said doubtfully, Уbut stillЧФ
УSecondmost,Ф Tuf continued, Уmanna grows swiftly. Extreme difficulties demand extreme solutions. Manna represents such a solution. It is an artificial hybrid, a genetic quilt sewn together with DNA strands from a dozen worlds, its natural ancestors including the bread-bush of Hafeer, insinuating nightweed from Noctos, Gulliverian sugarsacs, and a specially enhanced variety of kudzu, from Old Earth itself. You will find it hardy and fast-spreading, in need of scant care, and capable of transforming an ecosystem with astonishing swiftness.Ф
УHow astonishing?Ф Tolly Mune demanded bluntly.
TufТs finger moved slightly, pressed down on a glowing key set within the arm of his floater. Dax purred.
The lights came on.
Tolly Mune blinked in the sudden glare.
They sat in the center of a huge circular room a good half-kilometer across, its domed ceiling curving a hundred meters above their heads. Behind Tuf a dozen towering plasteel ecospheres emerged from the walls, each open at the top and full of soil. There were a dozen different types of soil, representing a dozen different habitats-powdery white sand, rich black loam, thick red clay, blue crystalline gravel, gray-green swamp mud, tundra frozen hard as ice. From each ecosphere a manna plant grew.
And grew.
And grew.
And grew.
The central plants were five meters high; their questing vines had long since crawled over the tops of their habitats. The tendrils snaked halfway across the floor, to within a half-meter of Tuf, winding together, branching and rebranching. Manna vines covered the walls three-quarters of the way around the room. Manna vines clung precariously to the smooth white plasteel ceiling, half-eclipsing the light panels, so the illumination drifted down to the floor in shadow patterns of incredible intricacy. The filtered light seemed greenish. Everywhere the manna fruit bloomed, white pods the size of a manТs head drooping from the vines overhead and pushing through the tangle of growth. As they watched, one pod fell to the floor with a soft liquid plop. Now she understood why the echoes had sounded so curiously muted.
УThese particular specimens,Ф Haviland Tuf announced in an expressionless voice, Уwere begun from spores some fourteen days ago, shortly before my first meeting with the estimable First Councillor. A single spore in each habitat was all that was required; I have neither watered nor fertilized in the interim. Had I done so, the plants would not be nearly so small and stunted as these poor examples you see before you.Ф
Tolly Mune got to her feet. She had lived for years in zero gee, so it was a strain to stand under full gravity, but there was a tightness in her chest and a bad taste deep in the back of her mouth, and she felt she had to grasp for every psychological advantage, even one as small and obvious as standing when the rest of them were seated. Tuf had taken her breath away with his manna-from-the-hat trick, she was outnumbered, and Blackjack was life-knows-where while Dax sat by TufТs ear, purring complacently and regarding her with large golden eyes that saw right through every puling artice. УVery impressive,Ф she said.
УI am pleased you think so,Ф Tuf said, stroking Dax.
УExactly what are you proposing?Ф
УMy proposition is thus: we will immediately commence seeding SТuthlam with manna. Delivery may be effected through use of the ArkТs shuttlecraft. I have already taken the liberty of stocking the shuttle bays with explosive air-pods, each containing manna spores. Released into the atmosphere in a certain predetermined pattern that I have devised, the spores will ride upon the winds and distribute themselves about SТuthlam. Growth will commence immediately. No further effort will be required from the SТuthlamese but that they pick and eat.Ф His long still face turned away from Tolly Mune, toward the envoys from the allied worlds. УSirs,Ф he said, УI suspect that you are presently wondering as to your own part in this.Ф
Ratch Norren pinched his cheek and spoke for them all. УRight,Ф he said. He looked around uneasily. УComes back to what I said before. So this weed feeds all the Suthies. So what, thatТs nothing to us.Ф
УI would think the consequences obvious,Ф said Tuf. УSТuthlam is a threat to the allied worlds only because the SТuthlamese population is perpetually threatening to outstrip the SТuthlamese food supply. This renders SТuthlam, an otherwise peaceful and civilized world, inherently unstable. While the technocrats remained in power and kept the equation in an approximate balance, SТuthlam has been the most cooperative of neighbors, but this balancing, however virtuoso, must eventually fail, and with that failure inevitably the expansionists rise to power and the SТuthlamese become dangerous aggressors.Ф
УIТm no puling expansionist!Ф Tolly Mune said hotly.
УSuch was not my implication,Ф said Tuf. УNeither are you First Councillor for life, despite your obvious qualifications. War is already at hand, albeit a defensive war. When you fall, should an expansionist replace you, the struggle will become a war of aggression. In circumstances such as those the SТuthlamese have created for themselves, war is as utterly certain as famine, and no single leader, however well-intentioned and competent, can possibly avoid it.Ф
УExactly,Ф the boyish young woman from HenryТs World said in a precise voice. Her eyes had a shrewdness in them that belied her adolescent body. УAnd if war is inevitable, we had just as well fight it out now, and solve the problem once and for all.Ф
УThe Azure Triune must agree,Ф came a whispered second.
УTrue,Ф said Tuf, Уgranting your premise that war must come inevitably.Ф
УYou just told us the bloody expansionists would start a war inevitably, Tuffer,Ф Batch Norren complained.
Tuf soothed the black tomcat with a large white hand. УIncorrect, sir. My statements as to the inevitability of war and famine were predicated upon the collapse of the unstable balance between the SТuthlamese population and SТuthlamese food supplies. Should this tenuous equation be brought back into alignment, SТuthlam is no threat whatsoever to the other worlds in this sector. Under these conditions, war is both unnecessary and morally unconscionable, I would think.Ф
УAnd you avow this pestilential pop-weed of yours will be the thing to do the job?Ф the woman from Jazbo said contemptuously.
УIndeed,Ф said Tuf.
The ambassador from Skrymir shook his head. УNo. A valid effort, Tuf, and I respect your dedication, but I think not. I speak for all the allies when I say that we cannot put our faith in yet another breakthrough. SТuthlam has had its greenings and flowerings and blossomings and ecological revolutions before. In the end, nothing changes. We must conclude this matter once and for all.Ф
УFar be it from me to interfere with your suicidal folly,Ф said Tuf. He scratched Dax behind an ear.
УSuicidal folly?Ф Batch Norren said. УWhatТs that mean?Ф
Tolly Mune had been listening to it all. She turned to face the allies. УThat means you lose, Norren,Ф she said.
The envoys laughed-a polite chuckle from the Henry, a guffaw from the Jazbot, a booming thunder from the cyborg. УThe arrogance of the SТuthlamese never ceases to amaze me,Ф said the man from Skrymir. УDonТt be misled by this temporary stalemate, First Councillor. We are six worlds united as one. Even with your new flotilla, we outnumber you and outgun you. We defeated you once before, you might recall. WeТll do it again.Ф
УYou will not,Ф said Haviland Tuf.
As one, the envoys looked at him.
УIn recent days I have taken the liberty of doing some small research. Certain facts have become obvious. Firstly, the last local war was fought centuries ago. SТuthlam suffered an undeniable defeat, yet the allies are still recovering from their victory. SТuthlam, however, with its greater population base and more voracious technology, has long since left all effects of that struggle behind. Meanwhile, SТuthlamese science has advanced as swiftly as manna, if I may be permitted a colorful metaphor, while the allied worlds owe what small advances they claim to knowledge and techniques imported from SТuthlam. Undeniably, the combined allied fleets are significantly more numerous than the SТuthlamese Planetary Defense Flotilla, yet most of the allied armada is functionally obsolete in the face of the sophisticated weaponry and technology embodied in the new SТuthlamese ships. Moreover, it is grossly inaccurate to say the allies outnumber SТuthlam in any real sense. You comprise six worlds against one, correct, but the combined population of Vandeen, HenryТs World, Jazbo, Roggandor, Skrymir, and the Azure Triune totals scarcely four billionЧless than one-tenth the population of SТuthlam alone.Ф
УOne-tenth?Ф the Jazbot croaked. УThatТs wrong. IsnТt it? It must be.Ф
УThe Azure Triune has been given to understand that their numbers are barely six times our own.Ф
УTwo-thirds of them are women and children,Ф the envoy from Skrymir was quick to point out.
УOur women fight,Ф Tolly Mune snapped.
УWhen they can find the time between litters,Ф commented Ratch Norren. УTuf, they canТt have ten times our population. There are a lot of 'em, agreed, sure, but our best estimates-Ф
УSir,Ф said Tuf, Уyour best estimates are in error. Contain your chagrin. The secret is well kept, and when one is counting such multitudes, one can easily misplace a billion here or a billion there. Nonetheless, the facts are as I have stated them. At the moment, a delicate martial balance holds swayЧthe allied ships are more numerous, the SТuthlamese flotilla more advanced and better armed. This is obviously impermanent, as the SТuthlamese technology enables them to produce war fleets far more swiftly than any of the allies. I would venture to guess that just such an effort is currently underway.Ф Tuf looked at Tolly Mune.