"Last Castle, The by Jack Vance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nebula Award Stories 2)

different from human emotions, and only vaguely comprehen-
;sible to man. After diligent research Claghorn isolated over a
dozen Mek emotions.
In spite of such research, the Mek revolt came as an utter
surprise, no less to Claghorn, D. R. Jardine and Salonson than
to anyone else. Why? asked everyone. How could a group so
long submissive have contrived so murderous a plot?
The most reasonable conjecture was also the simplest: the
Mek resented servitude and hated the Earthmen who had
removed him from his natural environment. Those who
argued against this theory claimed that it projected human
emotions and attitudes into a nonhuman organism, that the
Mek had every reason to feel gratitude toward the gentlemen
who had liberated him from the conditions of Etamin Nine.
To this, the first group would inquire, "Who projects human
attitudes now?" And the retort of their opponents was often:
"Since no one knows for certain, one projection is no more
absurd than another."

II
Castle Hagedom occupied the crest of a black diorite crag
overlooking a wide valley to the south. Larger, more majestic
than Janeil, Hagedom was protected by walls a mile in
circumference, three hundred feet tall. The parapets stood a
full nine hundred feet above the valley, with towers, turrets
and observation eyries raising even higher. Two sides of the
crag, at east and west, dropped sheer to the valley. The north
and south slopes, a trifle less steep, were terraced and planted
with vines, artichokes, pears and pomegranates. An avenue
rising from the valley circled the crag and passed through a
portal into the central plaza. Opposite stood the great Rotun-
da, with at either side the tall Houses of the twenty-eight
families.
The original castle, constructed immediately after the re-
turn of men to Earth, stood on the site now occupied by the
plaza. The tenth Hagedom had assembled an enormous force
of Peasants and Meks to build the new walls, after which he
demolished the old castle. The twenty-eight Houses dated
from this time, five hundred years before.
Below the plaza were three service levels: the stables and
garages at the bottom, next the Mek shops and Mek living
quarters, then the various storerooms, warehouses and special
shops: bakery, brewery, lapidary, arsenal, repository, and the
like.
The current Hagedom, twenty-sixth of the line, was a
Claghorn of the Overwheles. His selection had occasioned
general surprise, because 0. C. Charle, as he had been before
his elevation, was a gentleman of no remarkable presence. His
elegance, flair, and erudition were only ordinary; he had never
been notable for any significant originality of thought. His