"Robert Weinberg - Logical Magician 01 - A Logical Magician" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weinberg Robert)

The changeling swallowed the rest of the flakes. "I'm filled with knowledge. Jack,"
he declared. "Not everything in the world, of course, but an awful lot. My mind is like an
encyclopedia. Ask me the right question and I'll provide you with the correct answer. But
I can't extrapolate on pure guesswork. I need to be pointed in the right direction."
"I understand," said Jack. "It's no different than working with a computer. They're
great at retrieving tons of relevant data. But only if you know what you're looking for. I
think I can manage."
He drew in a deep breath. Maybe now he would get some answers. "Shall we start
again with the obvious question? Who or what is this Old One and why is he such a threat
to modem civilization?"
The changeling closed his eyes, as if pondering his reply. It took him a few seconds
to answer. There was a note of quiet desperation in his voice.
"What Merlin told you about the lifespans of supernatural beings wasn't absolutely
true, Jack," said Simon, his expression serious. "We don't grow old and die, nor can we
be killed by most conventional methods of murder. However, we all have our weaknesses
and vulnerabilities. Even in its dreams, mankind wasn't foolish enough to make us
invulnerable. Except for one tiny segment of our population. The Gods."
"The Gods," repeated Jack, beads of sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.
"The Gods?"
"Humanity envisioned its own creators as omniscient, omnipotent, and immortal,"
continued Simon. "They weren't supposed to die. That worked fine for the early, small
civilizations of prehistory. They rarely encountered other cultures. But think of the
problems that arose once empires started forming. Gods, as well as civilizations, clashed.
"Fortunately," continued Simon, "what man can imagine, he can unimagine. Or
consign to limbo. And so it was with the ancient Gods."
"Huh?" said Jack, totally confused.
"If enough people believed in a supernatural entity, their thoughts brought it to life.
Even if all those believers later died, their creation remained. Such was the case with my
race, the faeries. Humanity stopped believing in us long ago. Instead, you no longer gave
us any thought. So we survived, adapting to the changing world. But that was not the case
with the Old Gods."
"Mankind disbelieved them out of existence," whispered Jack, the truth unfolding in
his mind. "They were destroyed the same way they were created. By pure thought."
Simon nodded. "Judaism, then Christianity, wiped the Old Ones away. People not
only worshipped one God, they firmly rejected the possibility of any other. They denied
them. 'Thou shall have no other God before me,' the Bible commanded, and so it was. All
of Jehovah's rivals were unimagined out of existence. The ancient Gods disappeared. But
disbelief proved to be a lot more complicated than creation.
"The only way to completely vanquish the Old Ones is for no one to believe they
exist. No one . Need I remind you how often all humanity has agreed on anything? You can
count the times on no fingers. Blame the lunatic fringe. Feeding on their doubts, the
earliest Gods of civilization, the pagan, bloodthirsty Gods of prehistory, maintain a
tenuous grip on this world. They lurk in the outer dark, waiting for an invitation to return.
And, from time to time, some utter fool manages to summon one of them back."
"How?" asked Jack.
"Beats me," said Simon. "Who cares? The important fact is that an incredibly
powerful supernatural being, one with Godlike powers, has returned to the Earth. And that
spells trouble with a capital T."
"Then this sort of thing has happened before?" asked Jack. "Often?"
"Ever hear of the Thule Society in the 1920's?" replied Simon. "They resurrected