"C. L. Moore - Greater Than Gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore C. L)

he had been firm about it.
And in later years he had reason to be glad. Bill Jr. grew up fast. He had
Marta's violet eyes and his father's darkly blond hair, and a laughing
resolution all his own. He was going to be an architect, and neither his
mother's shocked protest at this treason to the family profession, nor Bill's
not wholly concealed disappointment could swerve him. But he was a good lad.
Between school terms he and his father had entirely marvelous vacations
together, and for Bill the world revolved about this beloved, talented,
headstrong youngster whose presence upon Earth seemed reason enough for Bill's
whole existence.
He was glad, even, that the boy was stubborn. For there could be no question
now about a weakness in the children of the Cory System births. In all ways
but one they were quite normal, it was true, but initiative seemed to have
been left out of them. It was as if the act of predetermining~'their sex had
robbed them of all ability to make any decisions of their own. Excellent
followers they were-but no leaders sprang up among them.
And it was dangerous to fill with unquestioning followers of the strongest man
a world in which General George Hamilton controlled the United States. He was
in his fourth term as president as the first great group of Gory System
children came to maturity. Fiercely and sincerely he believed in the
subjugation of the many to the State, and this new generation found in him an
almost divinely inspired leader.
General George dreamed of a United World in which all races lived in blind
obedience and willing sacrifice for the common good. And he was a man to make
his dreams come true. Of course, he admitted, there would be opposition at
first. There might be bloody wars, but in his magnificent dreams he believed
sincerely that 110 price could be too high, that the end justified any means
necessary to achieve it. And it seemed like the cooperation of Heaven itself
to find almost an entire generation coming into adulthood ready to accept his
leadership implicitly.
He understood why. It was no secret now what effect the Cory Sys
tern had upon the children it produced. They would follow the strongest leader
with blind faith. But upon this one generation of followers General George
knew he could build a future that would live after him in the magnificent
fulfillment of his most magnificent dreams. For a war lord needs a nation of
soldiers, a great crop of boy babies to grow into armies, and surprisingly few
saw the real motive behind General George's constant cry for boys, boys,
boys-huge families of them. Fathers of many sons were feted and rewarded.
Everybody knew there was the certainty of war behind this constant appeal for
families of sons, but comparatively few realized that since the best way to be
sure of boys was the use of the Cory System, the whole new generation would be
blind followers of the strongest leader, just as their fathers were. Perhaps
the Cory System might have died of its own great weakness, its one flaw, had
not General George so purposefully demanded sons of his followers.


General George died before the first great war was over. His last words,
gasped in the bursting tumult of a bomb raid over Washington were, "Carry
on-unite the world!" And his vice-president and second in command, Phillip
Spaulcling, was ready to snatch up the falling torch and light the world to