"Andre Norton - Moon Singer 2 - Exiles of the Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Each people had its gods, its controlling powers. There is an inner need in our species to acknowledge
something beyond ourselves, something greater. In some civilizations there is a primitive retrogression to
sacrificeтАФeven of the worshipers' own kindтАФand to religions of fear and darkness. Or belief can be the
recognition of a spirit, without any formal protestation of rites. But on many worlds the gods are strong
and their voices, the priests, are considered infallible, above even the temporal rulers. So that Traders
walk softly and cautiously on any world where there are many temples and such a priesthood.

The system of Amen-Re had been colonized by ships from Veda. And those had been filled with
refugees from a devastating religious warтАФthe persecuted, fleeing. Thus a hierarchy had had control from
the first.

Luckily they were not rigidly fanatical toward the unknown. On some worlds the remnants of any native
former civilization were destroyed as devilish work. But in the case of Amen-Re some farsighted high
priest in the early days had had the wit to realize that these remains were indeed treasure which could be
exploited. He had proclaimed all such finds the due of the god, to be kept in the temples.

When Traders began to call at Thoth (settlement on Ptah was too small to induce visits), lesser finds were
offered in bargaining, and these became the reason for cargo exploitation. For there was no local product
on Thoth worth the expense of off-world shipping.

It was the lesser bits, the crumbs, which were so offered. The bulk of the best was used to adorn the
temples. But those were enough to make the trip worthwhile for my people, if not for the great
companies and combines. Our cargo space was strictly limited; we lived on the fringe of the trade of the
galaxy, picking up those items too small to entice the bigger dealers.

So trade with Thoth had become routine. But ship time is not planet time. Between one visit and the next
there may be a vast change on any world, political or even physical. And when the Lydis had set down
this time, she had found boiling around her the beginnings of chaos, unless there came some, sharp
change. Government, religion, do not exist in a vacuum. Here government and religionтАФwhich had
always had a firm allianceтАФwere together under fire.

A half year earlier there had arisen in the mountain country to the east of Kartum a new prophet. There
had been such before, but somehow the temples had managed either to discredit them or to absorb their
teachings without undue trouble. This time the priesthood found itself on the defensive. And, its
complacency well established by years of untroubled rule, it handled the initial difficulty clumsily.

As sometimes happens, one mistake led to a greater, until now the government at Kartum was virtually in
a state of siege. With the church under pressure, the temporal powers scented independence. The
well-established nobility was loyal to the temple. After all, their affairs were so intertwined that they could
not easily withdraw their support. But there are always have-nots wanting to be havesтАФlesser nobility
and members of old families who resent not having more. And some of these made common cause with
the rebels.

The spark which had set it off was the uncovering of a "treasure" place which held some mysterious
contagion swift to kill off those involved. Not only that, but the plague spread, bringing death to others
who had not dealt with the place at all. Then a fanatical hill priest-prophet began to preach that the
treasures were evil and should be destroyed.

He led a mob to blow up the infected site, then went on, hot with the thirst for destruction, to do the
same to the local temple which served as a storage place for the goods. The authorities moved in then,