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

Captain Gorsid's puzzled eyes met Yoal's, then flashed to
Veed, then Enash. Enash shrugged his torso negatively, and
felt pity for the creature. The man didn't understand, pos-
sibly never could understand. It was the old story of two dif-
ferent viewpoints, the virile and the decadent, the race that
aspired to the stars and the race that declined the call of
destiny.
"Why not," urged the man, "control the breeding cham-
bers?"
"And have the government overthrown!" said Yoal.
He spoke tolerantly, and Enash saw that the others were
smiling at the man's naivete. He felt the intellectual gulf be-
tween them widening. The creature had no comprehension of
the natural life forces that were at work. The man spoke
again:
"Well, if you don't control them, we will control them for
you."
There was silence.
They began to stiffen. Enash felt it in himself, saw the signs
of it in the others. His gaze flicked from face to face, then
back to the creature in the doorway. Not for the first time,
Enash bad the thought that their enemy seemed helpless.
"Why," he decided, "I could put my suckers around him and
crush him."
He wondered if mental control of nucleonic, nuclear, and
gravitonic energies included the ability to defend oneself from
a macrocosmic attack. He had an idea it did. The exhibition
of power two hours before might have had limitations, but if
so, it was not apparent. Strength or weakness could make no
difference. The threat of threats had been made: "If you
don't controlwe will."
The words echoed in Enash's brain, and, as the meaning
penetrated deeper, his aloofness faded. He had always re-
garded himself as a spectator. Even when, earlier, he had ar-
gued against the revival, he had been aware of a detached part
of himself watching the scene rather than being a part of it.
He saw with a sharp clarity that that was why he had finally
yielded to the conviction of the others. Going back beyond
that to remoter days, he saw that he had never quite consid-
ered himself a participant in the seizure of the planets of other
races. He was the one who looked on, and thought of reality,
and speculated on a life that seemed to have no meaning. It
was meaningless no longer. He was caught by a tide of ir-
resistible emotion, and swept along. He felt himself sinking,
merging with the Ganae mass being. All the strength and all
the will of the race surged up in his veins.
He snarled, "Creature, if you have any hopes of reviving
your dead race, abandon them now."
The man looked at him, but said nothing. Enash rushed
on, "If you could destroy us, you would have done so already.