"A. E. Van Vogt - The Battle of Forever (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

The Battle of Forever (v2.0)
A. E. Van Vogt, 1971



Chapter 1

MODYUN WAS feeling quite cynical by the time the speaker, having finished his talk on the new light that had been cast on man's history, asked for questions.
There were several questions of the foolish kind -- people did not quite seem to know what to make of the information that had been imparted. Languidly, Modyun indicated thought and had attention.
"Are you sure you're not describing some old-style mythology?" he asked.
"We can't be sure, of course," was the cautious reply, "but we think not."
"The picture you give of our remote ancestors," Modyun persisted, "is one that considerably strains my credulity."
"Ours, also, at first," was the answer. "But the context and immensity of detail obtained provides verisimilitude."
"It would seem, then, that our ancestors fought like animals, with a sustained savagery which almost suggests that they were capable of genuine physical activity."
"That is most certainly what we have discovered."
"And like our animals, they actually walked on their own legs and did not have to be supported by artificial aids?"
"Exactly," said the speaker.
Modyun was sarcastic. "I envision somebody's delusion."
Faint, agreeing smiles registered on dozens of faces.
"I presume," Modyun continued, "they conceived and bore their own children."
"Oh, yes," was the reply. "A process of copulation impregnated the female, who thereupon gestated for a period and then delivered."
All present shuddered as this act was visualized.
"Disgusting," a woman murmured.
Another person said, "I'm afraid this is beginning to be a little hard to accept. Next thing, you'll be telling us that they ate their own food."
"Exactly," said the speaker. "Passed it through the alimentary canal, had a method of individual personal digestion, and passed on the excreta into a dung receiver."
There were a few more questions, but those present were now fairly alienated; the speaker, Doda, perceived this through the still-open thought-channel amplifiers by which he was connected to his "audience." Observing that Modyun was one of the still connected, Doda indicated in a private thought: "For some reason, I anticipated that you would be more interested in these discoveries than the others."
Modyun was amused. "I have a body two feet long, and a head fourteen inches in diameter. What way could I be interested in a precontrol human with eight feet of muscle and bone, capable of supporting his head himself? I perceive you have in mind my growing to that size as a scientific gesture."
"Our ancestors were more like six feet."
"Yes, but their heads were smaller, you said."
"Perhaps" -- Doda's indication had a desperate overtone -- "if a female were to agree to grow large, it might be an interesting experiment for you."
Modyun was instantly in a state of sardonic disbelief.
"That will never happen. Our women are much too refined."
He broke off, ironically, "Why not perform this experiment on yourself?"
"Because I'm the experimenter. It would take a year to grow the bodies longer, and then perhaps two years for the experiment, and then a year to become human again. Somebody must supervise."
Modyun was derisive. "Four years! When I want to ruin any reputation I have for sanity, I'll contact you."
"Don't decide against this right now," Doda pleaded.
"Remember, you are the person who has said that somebody ought to go outside the barrier occasionally and see what's happening out there in the world."
"I was only joking," Modyun replied tartly.
"Still, you said it. Still -- you thought it."
It was true.
Showed you, thought Modyun ruefully, that somebody was always listening with his own evaluation and purpose even to one's most casual comments ... Unquestionably, Doda had preselected him for the experiment because he had made those remarks. Still -- there were facts here ... not to be ignored.
He said, abruptly thoughtful, "Surely, a careful examination of the archives and of early teaching devices, now discarded, would establish a great deal of this. Such a study would be necessary for anyone going outside ... "
Doda was discreetly silent.
Modyun went on, "That part of it could be interesting."
He thereupon called his insect attendant, and was carried away.

Three days later Modyun was floating lazily in his private, sunlit pool. It was where he normally went to absorb the sun-rays from which he extracted the energy that converted the air he breathed and the water that he absorbed through his pores into the nutrient that maintained his body in perfect perpetual health.
Well, almost perpetual. He was the third generation test-tube issue inside the barriers. Each of the previous two generations had survived about fifteen hundred years.
He floated there and gazed admiringly at his image in a sunken mirror. What a noble and handsome head, and delightful tapering body. The tiny arms and legs were partly hidden in an almost invisible harness.
Yet he could already see the hint of changes -- he was several millimetres longer. For a brain as open to perception and as sensitive as his, such small transformations were clearly visible.