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

УThis is difficult to say,Ф Tuf replied. УYou are the one holding a psionic cat, madam.Ф
It was an endless silent walk and an eternal awkward meal.
They took their dinner in a corner of the long, narrow communications room, surrounded by consoles, telescreens, and cats. Tuf sat with Dax across his lap, and spooned up his dinner with methodical care. On the other side of the table, Tolly Mune ate without tasting the food. She had no appetite. She felt old and dizzy. And afraid.
Blackjack reflected her confusion; his serenity gone, he huddled in her lap, infrequently lifting his head above the table to growl a warning at Dax.
And finally the moment arrived, as she had known it would: a buzz and a flashing blue light signaled an incoming communication. Tolly Mune started at the sound, scraping her chair backwards against the deck and swinging around sharply in her seat. Blackjack leapt off in alarm. She started to rise, and froze in indecision.
УI have programmed in strict instructions that I am on no account to be disturbed while dining,Ф Tuf announced. УErgo, that call is for you, by the process of elimination.Ф
The blue pinpoint flashed off, and on, and off, and on.
УYouТre no puling god,Ф Tolly Mune said. УNeither am I, damn it. I donТt want this goddamned burden, Tuf.Ф
The light was flashing.
УPerhaps it is Commander Wald Ober,Ф Tuf suggested. УI suggest you take his call before he begins counting backwards.Ф
УNo one has the right, Tuf,Ф she said. УNot you, not me.Ф
He gave a ponderous shrug.
The light flashed.
Blackjack yowled.
Tolly Mune took two steps toward the console, stopped, turned back toward Tuf. УCreation is part of godhood,Ф she said with suddenly certainty. УYou can destroy, Tuf, but you cannot create. ThatТs what makes you a monster instead of a god.Ф
УThe creation of life in the cloning tanks is an everyday and commonplace element of my profession,Ф Tuf said.
The light flashed on, went out, flashed on again.
УNo,Ф she said, Уyou replicate life there, but you donТt create it. It has to have existed already, somewhere in time and space, and you have to have a cell sample, a fossil recordЧsomethingЧor youТre helpless. Puling hell, yes! Oh, you have the power of creation all right. The same goddamned power that I have, and that every man and woman down in the undercity has. Procreation, Tuf. ThereТs your awesome power, thereТs the only miracle there is-the one thing humans have that makes us like gods, and the very thing you propose to take away from ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the people on SТuthlam. The hell! YouТre no creator, youТre no god.Ф
УIndeed,Ф said Haviland Tuf, expressionlessly.
УSo you donТt have the right to make godlike decisions,Ф she said. УAnd neither do I, damn it.Ф She moved to the console in three long, confident strides, touched a control. A telescreen ran with colors, resolving into a mirror-finish battle helmet emblazoned wth a stylized globe insignia. Twin sensors burned crimson behind a dark plasteel faceplate. УCommander Ober,Ф she said.
УFirst Councillor Mune,Ф Wald Ober said. УI was concerned. The allied ambassadors are saying all kinds of wild things to the newsfeeds. A peace treaty, a new flowering. Can you confirm? WhatТs going on? Is there trouble there?Ф
УYes,Ф she said. УListen to me, Ober, and-Ф
УTolly Mune,Ф Tuf said.
She whirled on him. УWhat?Ф
УIf procreation is the mark of godhood,Ф Tuf said, Уthen cats are gods, too, it would seem to follow. They, too, reproduce themselves. Permit me to point out that, in a very short time, we have arrived at a situation whereby you have more cats than I do, though you started with but a single pair.Ф
She scowled. УWhat are you saying?Ф She punched off the sound, so TufТs words would not transmit.
Wald Ober gestured in sudden silence.
Haviland Tuf pressed the tips of his fingers together. УI am merely pointing out that, as much as I relish the properties of the feline, I nonetheless take steps to control their breeding. I reached this decision after careful consideration, and the weighing of all the alternatives. Ultimately, as you yourself will discover, there are but two fundamental options. You must either reconcile yourself to inhibiting the fertility of your cats, entirely without their consent, I might add, or, failing that, some day most assuredly you will find yourself about to cycle a bag full of newborn kittens out your airlock into the cold vacuum of space. Make no choice, and you have chosen. Failure to decide, because you lack the right, is itself a decision, First Councillor. In abstaining, you vote.Ф
УTuf,Ф she said, her voice agonized, УdonТt! I donТt want this damned power.Ф
Dax jumped up on the table, and turned his golden eyes upon her. УGodhood is a profession even more demanding than ecology,Ф Tuf said, Уthough it might be said that I knew the job to be hazardous when I accepted its burdens.Ф
УItТs not,Ф she started. УYou canТt say,Ф she fumbled. УKittens and babies arenТt,Ф she tried. УTheyТre people, they, they have the power of, that is, minds, minds and hearts as well as gonads. TheyТre rational, itТs their choiceЧtheirs, not mine. I canТt possibly make it for them-the millions, the billions.Ф
УIndeed,Ф said Tuf. УI had forgotten about the good people of SТuthlam and their long history of rational choice. Undoubtedly they will look in the face of war, of famine, and of plague, and then in billions they will change their ways and deftly avert the shadow that threatens to engulf SТuthlam and its proud towers. How strange that I failed to see this.Ф
They stared at each other.
Dax began to purr. Then he looked away, and began to lap up cream-of-mushroom bisque from TufТs bowl. Blackjack rubbed up against her leg, keeping a wary eye on Dax as he stalked across the room.
Tolly Mune turned back to the console very slowly; it took her a day to make that turnЧa week, a year, a lifetime. It took her forty billion lifetimes, but when she had completed that turn, it had only taken an instant, and those lives were gone as if they had never been.
She looked at the cold silent mask confronting her over the comm link, and in that dark shiny plastic she saw reflected all the faceless horror of war, and behind it burned the grim, fevered eyes of starvation and disease. She turned the sound transmission back up.
УWhatТs going on there?Ф Wald Ober was demanding, over and over. УFirst Councillor, I canТt hear you. What are your orders, do you hear me? WhatТs going on there?Ф
УCommander Ober,Ф Tolly Mune said. She forced a broad smile.
УWhatТs wrong?Ф
She swallowed. УWrong? Nothing. Nothing at all. Puling hell, everything is incredibly right. The warТs over and soТs the crisis, Commander.Ф
УAre you under coercion?Ф Wald Ober barked.
УNo,Ф she said quickly. УWhy do you say that?Ф
УTears,Ф he replied. УI see tears, First Councillor.Ф
УOf joy, Commander. Tears of joy. Manna, Ober, thatТs what he calls it. Manna from heaven.Ф She laughed lightly. УFood from the stars. TufТs a genius. Sometimesа.а.а.Ф She bit her lip, hard. УSometimes I even think he might beа.а.а.Ф
УWhat?Ф
У.а.а.аa god,Ф she said. She touched a button: the screen went dark.
Her name was Tolly Mune, but in the histories they call her all sorts of things.
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