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

УHaving left the manna chamber by a secondary entrance in pursuit of the object of his affections, he subsequently discovered that the doors were programmed to deny him readmittance. Therefore, he has spent the intervening hours roaming through the Ark and making the acquaintance of various other feline members of my shipТs company.Ф
УHow many cats do you have?Ф she asked.
УFewer than you,Ф Tuf said, Уyet this is not entirely unanticipated. You are SТuthlamese, after all.Ф
Blackjack was warm and reassuring in her arms, and all at once Tolly Mune was struck by the fact that Dax was no longer in evidence. She had the edge again. She scratched Jack behind an ear; he turned his limpid silver-gray eyes upon Tuf. УYou donТt fool me,Ф she said.
УI thought it unlikely that I could,Ф Tuf admitted.
УThe manna,Ф she said. УItТs some kind of a trap, isnТt it? You fed us a batch of lies, admit it.Ф
УEverything I have told you of the manna is the truth.Ф
Blackjack uttered a peep. УThe truth,Ф said Tolly Mune, Уoh, the puling truth. That means there are things you havenТt told us about the manna.Ф
УThe universe abounds in knowledge. Ultimately, there are more facts to be known than humans to know them, an astonishing realization considering that populous SТuthlam is included in humanityТs tally. I could scarcely hope to tell you everything concerning any subject, however limited.Ф
She gave a snort. УWhat are you going to do to us, Tuf?Ф
УI am going to resolve your food crisis,Ф he said, his voice as flat and cold as still water, and as full of secret depths.
УBlackjackТs purring,Ф she said, Уso youТre telling the truth. But how, Tuf, how?Ф
УThe manna is my instrument.Ф
УBladder bloat,Ф she said. УI donТt give a puling wart how tasty and addictive the manna fruit is, or how fast the damned things grow, no plant is going to solve our population crisis. YouТve tried all that. WeТve been around those coordinates with omni-grain and the pods and the wind-riders and the mushroom farms. YouТre holding something back. Come on, piss it out.Ф
Haviland Tuf regarded her in silence for well over a minute. His eyes locked with hers, and it seemed briefly as though he were looking deep inside her, as if Tuf too were a mind reader.
Perhaps it was something else he read; finally, he answered. УOnce the plant has been sown, it will never be entirely eradicated, regardless of how diligently you may attempt to do so. It will spread with inexorable rapidity, within certain parameters of climate. Manna will not thrive everywhere; frost kills it, and cold is inimical to its growth, but it shall indeed spread to cover the tropical and subtropical regions of SТuthlam, and that will be enough.Ф
УEnough for what?Ф
УThe manna fruit is extremely nutritious. During the first few years, it will do much to relieve the pressures of your present caloric shortfalls and thereby improve conditions upon SТuthlam. Eventually, having exhausted the soil in its vigorous spread, the plants will expire and decay, and you will of necessity be forced to employ crop rotation for a few years before those particular plots are capable of sustaining manna once again. Yet, meanwhile, the manna shall have completed its real work, First Councillor Mune. The dust that collects upon the underside of each leaf is in actuality a symbiotic microorganism, vital to manna pollination, yet with certain other properties. Borne upon the wind, carried by vermin and human alike, it shall touch every cranny and nook upon the surface of your globe.Ф
УThe dust,Ф she said. She had gotten it on her fingertips when she touched the manna plantа.а.а.
BlackjackТs growl was so low she felt it more than heard it..
Haviland Tuf folded his hands. УOne might consider manna dust as an organic prophylactic of sorts,Ф he said. УYour biotechs will discover that it interferes powerfully, and permanently, with libido in the human male and fertility in the human female. The mechanisms need not concern you.Ф
Tolly Mune stared at him, opened her mouth, closed it, blinked to hold back tears. Tears of despair, tears of rage? She could not say. Not tears of joy. She would not let them be tears of joy. УDeferred genocide,Ф she said, forcing out the words. Her voice was hoarse and raw.
УScarcely,Ф Tuf said. УSome of your SТuthlamese will display a natural immunity to the effects of the dust. My projections indicate that somewhere between point oh-seven and point one-one percent of your base population will be unaffected. They will reproduce, of course, and thus the immunity will be passed on and grow more prevalent in successive generations. Yet a population implosion of considerable magnitude will commence upon SТuthlam this year, as the birth curve ceases its upward thrust and starts a precipitous descent.Ф
УYou have no right,Ф said Tolly Mune slowly.
УThe nature of the SТuthlamese problem is such so as to admit but one lasting and effectual solution,Ф Tuf said, Уas I have told you from the very beginning.Ф
УMaybe,Ф she said. УBut so what? What about freedom, Tuf? What about individual choice? My people may be selfish and short-sighted fools, but theyТre still people, just like you. They have the right to decide if theyТre going to have children, and how many children. Who the hell gave you the authority to make that decision for them? Who the hell told you to go ahead and sterilize our world?Ф She was growing angrier with every word. УYouТre no better than we are. YouТre only human, Tuf. A puling peculiar human, IТll give you that, but only humanЧno more and no less. What gives you the goddamned right to play god with our world and our lives?Ф
УThe Ark,Ф Haviland Tuf said, simply.
Blackjack squirmed in her arms, suddenly restless, uneasy. Tolly Mune let him jump to the ground, never taking her eyes off TufТs blank white face. Suddenly she wanted to strike him, hurt him, wound that mask of indifference and complacency, mark him. УI warned you, Tuf,Ф she said. УPower corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, remember?Ф
УMy memory is unimpaired.Ф
УToo bad I canТt say the same thing about your goddamned morality,Ф said Tolly Mune. Her tone was acid. Blackjack growled counterpoint at her feet. УWhy the hell did I ever help you keep this goddamned ship? What a damned fool I was! YouТve been alone in a power fantasy too damn long, Tuf. Do you think somebody just appointed you god, is that it?Ф
УBureaucrats are appointed,Ф said Tuf. УGods, insofar as they exist at all, are chosen by other procedures. I make no claims to godhood in the mythological sense. Yet I submit that I do indeed wield the power of a god, a truth that I believe you recognized long ago, when you first turned to me for loaves and fishes.Ф When she began to reply, he raised a hand, palm outward. УNo, kindly do not interrupt. I will endeavor to be brief. You and I are not so different, Tolly MuneЧФ
УWeТre nothing alike, damn you!Ф she shrieked at him.
УWe are not so different,Ф Tuf repeated calmly, firmly. УYou once confessed that you were not a religious woman; nor am I one to worship myths. I began as a trader, yet having come upon this ship called Ark, I began to find myself dogged at every step by gods, prophets, and demons. Noah and the flood, Moses and his plagues, loaves and fishes, manna, pillars of fire, wives of saltЧI must needs have become acquainted with all. You challenge me to declare myself a god. I make no such claim. And yet, it must be said, my first act upon this ship, so many years ago, was to raise the dead.Ф He pointed ponderously at a work station a few meters away. УThere is the very spot at which I performed that first miracle, Tolly Mune. Moreover, I do indeed wield godlike powers and traffic in the life and death of worlds. Enjoying as I do these godlike abilities, can I rightfully decline the accompanying responsibility, the equally awesome burden of moral authority? I think not.Ф
She wanted to reply, but the words would not come. HeТs insane, Tolly Mune thought to herself.
УFurthermore,Ф Tuf said, Уthe nature of the crisis on SТuthlam was such that it admitted to a solution only by godlike intervention. Let us suppose briefly that I consented to sell you the Ark, as you desired. Do you truly suppose that any staff of ecologists and biotechs, however expert and dedicated, could have devised a lasting answer? It is my belief that you are too intelligent to entertain such a fallacy. I have no doubt that, with all the resources of this seedship at their beck and call, these men and women-geniuses with intellects and training far superior to my ownЧcould and would undoubtedly have devised numerous ingenious stopgaps to allow the SТuthlamese to continue breeding for another century, perhaps two, perhaps even three or four. Yet ultimately, their answers too would have proven insufficient, as did my own small attempts five years ago, and five years before that, and all the breakthroughs your technocrats engineered in centuries past. Tolly Mune, there is no rational, equitable, scientific, technological, or human answer to the dilemma of a population increasing in an insane geometric progression. It admits to answering only with miracles-loaves and fishes, manna from heaven, and the like. Twice I failed as ecological engineer. Now I propose to succeed as the god that SТuthlam requires. Should I approach the problem as human a third time, I would assuredly fail a third time, and then your difficulties would be resolved by gods crueler than myself, by the four mammal-riders of ancient legend who are known as pestilence, famine, war, and death. Therefore, I must set aside my humanity, and act as god.Ф He paused, looking at her, blinking.
УYou set aside your damned humanity a hell of a long time ago,Ф she raged at him. УBut youТre no god, Tuf. A demon, maybe. A puling megalomaniac, certainly. Maybe a monster-yes, a puling abortion. A monster, but no god.Ф
УA monster,Ф said Tuf. УIndeed.Ф He blinked. УI had hoped that one of your undoubted intellectual prowess and competence might display better understanding.Ф He blinked again. Twice, three times. His long white face was as still as ever, but there was something strange in TufТs voice that she had never heard before, something that frightened her, that bewildered her and disturbed her, something that sounded almost like emotion. УYou slander me grievously, Tolly,Ф he protested.
Blackjack made a thin, plaintive meow.
УYour cat displays a keener grasp of the cold equations of the reality confronting us,Ф Tuf said. УPerhaps I ought to explain again from the beginning.Ф
УMonster,Ф she said.
Tuf blinked. УMy efforts are eternally unappreciated and met only with undeserved calumny.Ф
УMonster,Ф she repeated.
His right hand briefly curled into a fist, uncurled slowly and deliberately. УIt appears some cerebral tic has dramatically reduced your vocabulary, First Councillor.Ф
УNo,Ф she said, Уbut thatТs the only word that applies to you, damn it.Ф
УIndeed,Ф said Tuf. УIn that case, being a monster, it behooves me to act monstrously. Consider that, if you will, as you grapple with your decision, First Councillor.Ф
Blackjack jerked his head up suddenly and stared at Tuf as if something unseen were flitting about that long white face. He began to hiss; his thick silver-gray fur rose up slowly as he backed off. Tolly Mune bent and picked him up. The cat trembled in her arms, and hissed again. УWhat?Ф she said in a distracted voice. УWhat decision? YouТve made all the damned decisions. What the hell are you talking about?Ф
УPermit me to point out that, as of this moment, not a single manna spore has been released into the atmosphere of SТuthlam,Ф Haviland Tuf said.
She snorted. УSo? YouТve made your damned deal. I have no way of stopping you.Ф
УIndeed. Regrettable. Perhaps one will occur to you, however. Meanwhile, I suggest that we repair to my quarters. Dax is waiting for his evening meal. I have prepared an excellent cream-of-mushroom bisque for our own repast, and there is chilled great-beer from Moghoun, a beverage sufficiently heady to please either gods or monsters. And, of course, my communications equipment is at your disposal, should you find you have something to say to your government.Ф
Tolly Mune opened her mouth for a cutting reply, then closed it again in astonishment. УDo you mean what I think you mean?Ф she said.