"Cordwainer Smith - A Planet Named Shayol" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Cordwainer)

The years, if they were years, went by. The land of Shayol did not change.
Sometimes the bubbling sound of geysers came faintly across the plain to the herd of men; those who could talk declared it to be the breathing of Captain Alvarez. There was night and day, but no setting of crops, no change of season, no generations of men. Time stood still for these people, and their load of pleasure was so commingled with the shocks and pains of the dromozoa that the words of the Lady Da took on a very remote meaning.
УPeople never live forever.Ф
Her statement was a hope, not a truth in which they could believe. They did not have the wit to follow the stars in their courses, to exchange names with each other, to harvest the experience of each for the wisdom of all. There was no dream of escape for these people. Though they saw the old-style chemical rockets lift up from the field beyond BТdikkatТs cabin, they did not make plans to hide among the frozen crop of transmuted flesh.
Far long ago, some other prisoner than one of these had tried to write a letter. His handwriting was on a rock. Mercer read it, and so had a few of the others, but they could not tell which man had done it. Nor did they care.
The letter, scraped on stone, had been a message home. They could still read the opening: СOnce, I was like you, stepping out of my window at the end of the day, and letting the winds blow me gently toward the place I lived in. Once, like you, I had one head, two hands, ten fingers on my hands. The front part of my head was called a face, and I could talk with it. Now I can only write, and that only when I get out of pain. Once, like you, I ate foods, drank liquid, had a name. I cannot remember the name I had. You can stand up, you who get this letter. I cannot even stand up. I just wait for the lights to put my food in me molecule by molecule, and to take it out again. DonТt think that I am punished any more. This place is not a punishment. It is something else.Т
Among the pink herd, none of them ever decided what was Сsomething else.Т
Curiosity had died among them long ago.
Then came the day of the little people.
It was a time Ц not an hour, not a year; a duration somewhere between them Ц when the Lady Da and Mercer sat wordless with happiness and filled with the joy of super-condamine. They had nothing to say to one another; the drug said all things for them.
A disagreeable roar from BТdikkatТs cabin made them stir mildly.
Those two, and one or two others, looked toward the speaker of the public address system.
The Lady Da brought herself to speak, though the matter was unimportant beyond words. УI do believe,Ф said she, Уthat we used to call that the War Alarm.Ф
They drowsed back into their happiness.
A man with two rudimentary heads growing beside his own crawled over to them. All three heads looked very happy, and Mercer thought it delightful of him to appear in such a whimsical shape. Under the pulsing glow of super-condamine, Mercer regretted that he had not used times when his mind was clear to ask him who he had once been. He answered it for them. Forcing his eyelids open by sheer will power, he gave the Lady Da and Mercer the lazy ghost of a military salute and said, УSuzdal, maТam and sir, former cruiser commander. They are sounding the alert. Wish to report that I am Е I am Е I am not quite ready for battle.Ф
He dropped off to sleep.
The gentle peremptories of the Lady Da brought his eyes open again.
УCommander, why are they sounding it here? Why did you come to us?Ф
УYou, maТam, and the gentleman with the ears seem to think best of our group. I thought you might have orders.Ф
Mercer looked around for the gentleman with the ears. It was himself. In that time his face was almost wholly obscured with a crop of fresh little ears, but he paid no attention to them, other than expecting that BТdikkat would cut them all off in due course and that the dromozoa would give him something else.
The noise from the cabin rose to a higher, ear-splitting intensity.
Among the herd, many people stirred.
Some opened their eyes, looked around, murmured, УItТs a noise,Ф and went back to the happy drowsing with super-condamine.
The cabin door opened.
BТdikkat rushed out, without his suit. They had never seen him on the outside without his protective metal suit.
He rushed up to them, looked wildly around, recognised the Lady Da and Mercer, picked them up, one under each arm, and raced with them back to the cabin. He flung them into the double door. They landed with bone-splitting crashes, and found it amusing to hit the ground so hard. The floor tilted them into the room. Moments later, BТdikkat followed.
He roared at them, УYouТre people, or you were. You understand people; I only obey them. But this I will not obey. Look at that!Ф
Four beautiful human children lay on the floor. The two smallest seemed to be twins, about two years of age. There was a girl of five and a boy of seven or so. All of them had slack eyelids. All of them had thin red lines around their temples and their hair, shaved away, showed how their brains had been removed.
BТdikkat, heedless of danger from dromozoa, stood beside the Lady Da and Mercer, shouting.
УYouТre real people. IТm just a cow. I do my duty. My duty does not include this. These are children.Ф
The wise, surviving recess of MercerТs mind registered shock and disbelief. It was hard to sustain the emotion, because the super-condamine washed at his consciousness like a great tide, making everything seem lovely. The forefront of his mind, rich with the drug, told him, УWonТt it be nice to have some children with us!Ф But the undestroyed interior of his mind, keeping the honour he knew before he came to Shayol, whispered, УThis is a crime worse than any crime we have committed! And the Empire has done it.Ф
УWhat have you done?Ф said the Lady Da. УWhat can we do?Ф
УI tried to call the satellite. When they knew what I was talking about, they cut me off. After all, IТm not people. The head doctor told me to do my work.Ф
УWas it Doctor Vomact?Ф Mercer asked.
УVomact?Ф said BТdikkat. УHe died a hundred years ago, of old age. No, a new doctor cut me off. I donТt have people-feeling, but I am Earth-born, of Earth blood. I have emotions myself. Pure cattle emotions! This I cannot permit.Ф
УWhat have you done?Ф
BТdikkat lifted his eyes to the window. His face was illuminated by a determination which, even beyond the edges of the drug which made them love him, made him seem like the father of this world Ц responsible, honourable, unselfish.
He smiled. УThey will kill me for it, I think. But I have put in the Galactic Alert Ц all ships here.Ф
The Lady Da, sitting back on the floor, declared, УBut thatТs only for new invaders! It is a false alarm.Ф She pulled herself together and rose to her feet. УCan you cut these things off me, right now, in case people come? And get me a dress. And do you have anything which will counteract the effects of the super-condamine?Ф
УThatТs what I wanted!Ф cried BТdikkat. УI will not take these children. You give me leadership.Ф
There and then, on the floor of the cabin, he trimmed her down to the normal proportions of mankind.
The corrosive antiseptic rose like smoke in the air of the cabin. Mercer thought it all very dramatic and pleasant, and dropped off in catnaps part of the time. Then he felt BТdikkat trimming him too. BТdikkat opened a long, long drawer and put the specimens in; from the cold in the room it must have been a refrigerated locker.
He sat them both up against the wall.
УIТve been thinking,Ф he said. УThere is no antidote for super-condamine. Who would want one? But I can give you the hypos from my rescue boat. They are supposed to bring a person back no matter what has happened to that person out in space.Ф
There was a whining over the cabin roof. BТdikkat knocked a window out with his fist, stuck his head out of the window and looked up.
УCome on in,Ф he shouted.
There was the thud of a landing craft touching ground quickly. Doors whirred. Mercer wondered, mildly, why people dared to land on Shayol. When they came in he saw that they were not people; they were Customs Robots, who could travel at velocities which people could never match. One wore the insigne of an inspector.
УWhere are the invaders?Ф
УThere are no ЦФ began BТdikkat.
The Lady Da, imperial in her posture though she was completely nude, said in a voice of complete clarity, УI am a former Empress, the Lady Da. Do you know me?Ф