"William Morrison - The Haters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morrison William)

hurt me intentionally, no one but the murderer and the guard I killed, and both of these were themselves
enemies of humanity. Now that I've got all that bitter stuff off my chest, I can see it more clearly, but I can
realize too that even at my worst, I never intended to destroy my own kind. I might have subjected it
carelessly to danger, just as a man will subject himself when he is overconfident of his own ability and
careless of his own life. I wanted people to realize that I had been unjustly treated, I wanted them to fear
my revenge. I would have come back with millions and lorded it over those who had harmed me, used
my money to punish those in power who had treated me as a mere number on the list of prisoners.
But I never had any intention of bringing disaster to the System. And that is what I have doneтАФwhat
I shall have done in discovering you and your kind, unless I can stop you. I have no weapon now but my
mind, my human mind which you unfortunately cannot read. And this mind I must use to the utmost to
discover your weakness, to prevent you from fastening yourself upon my people and enslaving them, as I
am afraid you will do if you attack before they are warned.
The A-beast said, "These small ancestors of ours are thoughtless, stupid. In the struggle for life upon
this planet, however, they have had one advantage. In appearance they seem, as we do, little out of the
ordinary. But no ordinary weapon can harm them, much less, destroy them. They do not even die of old
age. They die only when they destroy each other.
"They must have been formed originally by some tremendous mutation of the germ plasm. Once in
existence, they spread rapidly among creatures who by comparison were of a completely lower order of
strength. It was not until they had covered the entire land surface of the planet that they began to come
into serious conflict with each other, and thus to limit their own numbers.
"A few hundred thousand years back, our own race first arose. It was distinguished at first only by its
size. It had the same near-invulnerability and the same lack of intelligence.
"At first it was only a subspecies of the dominant, smaller race. But creature against creature, the
smaller ones were helpless to combat it, and it grew in numbers. But the struggle for survival was a
desperate one. Its members had to learn to band together, to hunt their enemies systematically and
relentlessly. We learned to know, each of us, his own strength. We learned to recognize against what
odds we could win and against what odds we must lose, and we developed our original language to a
level that would permit us to work together.
"Thus we became the intelligent race you see today. In all this, however, we had no need to master
nature as your own race has done. No ordinary enemy could hurt us, no weapon penetrate our bodies.
There were no perils of nature against which we needed protection. Our only enemies were the smaller
race; these we had begun to conquer by teeth and claws.
"In the past few years, our intelligence has turned the tide definitely in our favor. And this same
intelligence has enabled us to foresee that in the future we shall no longer be limited to the few square
miles of land we now inhabit. In a few years, the entire planet will be ours. What then? We do not die
when there is insufficient food, but we cease to grow and propagate. Shall our race be brought to a
standstill for lack of space in which to expand?
"We had just begun to consider our problem when your ship arrived. You have given us the answer.
Other planets, other galaxies would provide us with new homes. There remained only one question.
Could we build such a ship as yours to conquer space?
"We studied you and your men and arrived at the conclusion that individual for individual we were
immensely superior to you. Whatever you could do, we could do with greater ease. But you have a long
start on us. We have therefore been careful to harm no one, even the least among you, you who have
knowledge that we may use.
"On all the planets we conquer, we shall learn. It will not be long before we acquire the knowledge
you yourself have gained over the course of your entire history."
And thenтАФGrayson shrugged. "So long as it takes more than my lifetime, that is a matter of
indifference to me."
He had had a great deal of experience in concealing his true feelings, and these creatures had known
human beings for only a short time. Nevertheless he had a ghastly fear that they would see through him,