"A. E. Van Vogt - The Rat & the Snake & Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

Captain Gorsid looked questioningly at Yoal, "Need we
linger?"
Yoal hesitated. "I am curious." He addressed the man. "If
I were to tell you that we were visitors from another star,
what would be your reaction?"
The man stared at him. He was obviously puzzled, but
the fear was stronger. "Now, look," he said, "I was driving
along, minding my own business. I admit I'd had a shot or
two too many, but it's the liquor they serve these days. I
swear I didn't see the other carand if this is some new idea
of punishing people who drink and drive, well, you've won. I
won't touch another drop as long as I live, so help me."
Yoal said, "He drives a 'car' and thinks nothing of it. Yet
we saw no cars. They didn't even bother to preserve them
in the museums."
Enash noticed that everyone waited for everyone else to
comment. He stirred as he realized the circle of silence
would be complete unless he spoke. He said, "Ask him to
describe the car. How does it work?"
"Now, you're talking," said the man. "Bring on your line
of chalk, and I'll walk it, and ask any questions you please.
I may be so tight that I can't see straight, but I can always
drive. How does it work? You just put her in gear, and step
on the gas."
"Gas," said engineering officer Veed. "The internal com-
bustion engine. That places him."
Captain Gorsid motioned to the guard with the ray gun.
The third man sat up, and looked at them thoughtfully.
"From the stars?" he said finally. "Have you a system, or
was it blind chance?"
The Ganae councillors in that domed room stirred uneasily
in their curved chairs. Enash caught Yoal's eye on him. "The
shock in the historian's eye alarmed the meteorologist. He
thought: "The two-legged one's adjustment to a new situation,
his grasp of realities, was unnormally rapid. No Ganae could
have equalled the swiftness of the reaction."
Hamar, the chief biologist, said, "Speed of thought is not
necessarily a sign of superiority. The slow, careful thinker has
his place in the hierarchy of intellect."
But Enash found himself thinking, it was not the speed;
it was the accuracy of the response. He tried to imagine him-
self being revived from the dead, and understanding instantly
the meaning of the presence of aliens from the stars. He
couldn't have done it.
He forgot his thought, for the man was out of the case. As
Enash watched with the others, he walked briskly over to the
window and looked out. One glance, and then he turned
back.
"Is it all like this?" he asked.
Once again, the speed of his understanding caused a sensa-