"Andre Norton - Ross Murdock 03 - The Defiant Agents" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

long a period . . ." Ashe shook his head.
"You have been in Operation Retrograde from the start, and we've been
remarkably successful -- "
"Operating in a different way, educating picked men to return to certain
points in history where their particular temperaments and characteristics
fitted the roles they were selected to play, yes. And even then we had our
percentage of failures. But to try this -- returning people not physically
into time, but mentally and emotionally into prototypes of their ancestors
-- that's something else again. The Apaches have volunteered, and they've
been passed by the psychologists and the testers. But they're Americans of
today, not tribal nomads of two or three hundred years ago. If you break
down some barriers, you might just end up breaking them all."
Kelgarries was scowling. "You mean -- they might revert utterly, have no
contact with the present at all?"
"That's just what I do mean. Education and training, yes, but full awakening
of racial memories, no. The two branches of conditioning should go slowly
and hand in hand, otherwise -- real trouble!"
"Only we no longer have the time to go slow. I'm certain Ruthven will be
able to push this through -- with Waldour's report to back him."
"Then we'll have to warn Fox and the rest. They must be given a choice in
the matter."
"Ruthven said that would be done." The colonel did not sound convinced.
Ashe snorted. "If I hear him telling them, I'll believe it!"
"I wonder whether we can . . ."
Ashe half turned and frowned at the colonel. "What do you mean?"
"You said yourself that we had our failures in time travel. We expected
those, accepted them, even when they hurt. When we asked for volunteers for
this project we had to make them understand that there was a heavy element
of risk involved. Three teams of recruits -- the Eskimos from Point Barren,
the Apaches, and the Islanders -- all picked because their people had a high
survival rating in the past, to be colonists on widely different types of
planets. Well, the Eskimos and the Islanders aren't matched to any of the
worlds on those snooped tapes, but Topaz is waiting for the Apaches. And we
may have to move them there in a hurry. It's a rotten gamble any way you see
it!"
"I'll appeal directly to the council."
Kelgarries shrugged. "All right. You have my backing."
"But you believe such an effort hopeless?"
"You know the red-tape merchants. You'll have to move fast if you want to
beat Ruthven. He's probably on a direct line now to Stanton, Reese, and
Margate. This is what he has been waiting for!"
But if we contacted the media, public opinion would back us -- "
"You don't mean that, of course." Kelgarries was suddenly coldly remote.
Ashe flushed under the heavy brown which overlay his regular features. To
threaten a silence break was near blasphemy here. He ran both hands down the
fabric covering his thighs as if to rub away some soil on his palms.
"No," he replied heavily, his voice dull. "I guess I don't. I'll contact
Hough and hope for the best."
"Meanwhile," Kelgarries spoke briskly, "we'll do what we can to speed up the
program as it now stands. I suggest you take off for New York within the