"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - Tale of the Troika" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

for extra pay for high-altitude duty.
After this, correspondence from above became rather regular. First came the minutes of the meetings
of the Inspection Commission of the Municipal Economic Committee, then of the Special Commission on
Examining the Situation, then suddenly the Temporary Troika on Examining the Activity of Commandant
Zubo of the Colony of Unexplained Phenomena, and finally, after three reports in a row on "criminal
negligence," L. Vuniukov signed in as Chairman of the Troika on the Rationalization and Utilization of
Unexplained Phenomena. The newly formed triumvirate stopped sending down minutes and began
sending instructions and decrees. These documents were terrifying in form and content. They gave
incontrovertible evidence that the former commission of the Committee on Municipal Economy had
usurped power in Tmuskorpion and that it was incapable of wielding such power rationally.
"The greatest danger," Christobal Jos├йevich continued in his even voice, sucking on the extinguished
cigar, "is the fact that these rascals have the well-known Great Round Seal in their hands. I hope that you
realize what this means."
"I understand," Eddie said quietly. "You can't hack it out even with an ax." His clear face clouded
over. "What if we use the humanizer?"
Christobal Jos├йevich looked at Fedor Simeonovich.
"You can try, of course," he said, shrugging. "However, I'm afraid that things have gone too far."
"N-n-no, why do you say that?" Fedor Simeonovich countered. "T-try it, t-try it, Eddie. They're not
automatons up there. B-by the way, V-V-Vybegallo is up there, too."
"How come?"
It seemed that three months ago a demand had been sent down for a scientific consultant at a fantastic
salary. Nobody believed the salary offer, least of all Professor Vybegallo, who at that time was just
finishing up a major project on developing, through reeducation, a worm that would bait itself on a hook.
Vybegallo announced to all ears at the academic council his distrust of the offer and ran away that same
evening, leaving everything behind. Many saw him, briefcase in his teeth, clambering up the inner wall of
the elevator shaft, getting out on floors divisible by five to replenish his strength at the snack bars. A week
later a decree was lowered, stating that Professor A. A. Vybegallo had been appointed scientific
consultant to the Troika at the promised salary, with bonuses for his knowledge of foreign languages.
"Thanks," said polite Eddie. "That's valuable information. Shall we go?"
"Go, go, my dear friends," Fedor Simeonovich said, touched to the quick. He peered into the magic
crystal. "Yes, it's time. Kamnoedov is g-getting to the end of his s-s-speech. B-be careful up there. It's a
c-creepy, terrifying place."
"And no emotions!" Christobal Jos├йevich insisted. "If they don't give you your bedbugs and boxesтАФit
doesn't matter. You are scouts. We will maintain one-way telepathic communications with you. We will
follow your every move. Gathering information is your primary goal."
 "We understand," said Eddie.
Christobal looked us over one more time.
"They should take Modest with them," he muttered. "Fight fire with fire." He gave a hopeless wave of
the hand. "All right, go. Good luck."
We left, and Eddie said that now we had to drop into his lab and pick up the humanizer. He had been
quite active in practical humanization lately. Six cabinets in his lab housed an experimental apparatus
whose functional principle boiled down to the fact that it repressed primitive urges in the person
subjected to its rays and brought to the surface and directed outward all that was rational, good, and
eternal. With the aid of this experimental humanizer, Eddie managed to cure a philatelist, return two
out-of-control hockey fans to the bosoms of their families, and bring a chronic slanderer under control.
Now he was trying to cure our close friend Vitya Korneev of insolence, unsuccessfully thus far.
"How are we going to lug all this?" I asked, looking at the cabinets in horror.
But Eddie calmed me down. It seemed that his portable version was almost ready. It was less
powerful, but adequate, Eddie hoped, for our needs. "I'll finish soldering it there," he said, putting the flat
metal box in his pocket.