"Robert Rankin - Raiders of the Lost Car Park" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robert Rankin)

RAIDERS OF THE LOST CAR PARK
Robert Rankin
 AS IF YOU HADN'T GUESSED

We are not being told all of the truth.
There are truths. And there are Truths. And then there are
ULTIMATE TRUTHS.
Allow me to explain.
If you have ever attempted, in the spirit of scientific discovery, to glue a rectangular map of the world
onto a sphere of the same scale, you will soon have realized that it cannot be done. There is simply too
much map.
Now, why should this be?
Well, the greybeards of The Royal Geographic will spin you a lot of jargon about `orthomorphic
map representations' and `parallels and meridians' and `scale being exaggerated in increasing proportion
to the lessening proximity with the equator'.
But then, they would say that, wouldn't they?
That would be what they call a truth.
But it's not a Truth. And it's certainly not an
ULTIMATE TRUTH.
The Truth of the matter is that the map can be made to fit. All you have to do is increase the size of
your sphere by one third.
The ULTIMATE TRUTH is, that the entire planet is really a great deal larger than we have been led
to believe. And a considerable amount of it still remains uncharted.
At least by the human population, that is!
Allow me to explain.
There exists, right here, in our very midst, a race of evil beings that secretly manipulate mankind.
They plunder its wealth, screw up its progress and nick its Biros. In short, they control the world as we
know it.

This dark, malignant and altogether bad-assed bunch have, throughout history, infiltrated every level
of our society. They lurk, unseen, unsuspected and seemingly unstoppable. Growing ever in number, bent
upon the ultimate downfall of the human race and ruled over by a merciless tyrant, known to his minions
as the Hidden King of the World, and his gofer, Arthur Kobold.
Their pest holes are everywhere; hundreds across London alone. Each stacked high with a
boundless fortune in stolen booty. But you won't find the locations on any atlas or street directory. They
are well concealed.
Because these vile beings inhabit all those bits and pieces you had to snip off your rectangular map
of the world to make it fit onto the sphere.
They inhabit the FORBIDDEN ZONES.
And that is an ULTIMATE TRUTH!
The discoverer of this ULTIMATE TRUTH, and of many more besides, was a most remarkable
man. His name was Hugo Artemis Solon Saturnicus Reginald Arthur Rune.
He was a mystic, magus and master of the arts magickal. Poet, painter and prophet. Guru to gurus
and best-dressed man, of 1933.
Hardly anyone remembers him today.
When at the height of his celebrity, between the wars, Rune was lionized by high society and held the
ear of princes and popes. He could be found dancing the night away with Greta Garbo. Fly-fishing with
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sharing a joke with Haile Selassie, or leading the conga line at a Buck House
garden party.
But for all this, Rune was ever a man with a mission.