"Robert F. Young - Chicken Itza" - читать интересную книгу автора (Young Robert F)

CHICKEN ITZA
here was a world in which nothing ever went wrongтАФ
and that bugged the hell out of the inspector from earth

fiction By ROBERT F. YOUNG

IT HAVING BEEN established that the quickest way to civilize a savage is by providing him with a
civilized environment and bestowing upon him the blessings of technology, the International Space
Agency, when it came time to civilize the Siw of Sirius V, built a modern city for them in the big green
plain where for centuries they had raised children, crops and chickens, and stocked it with all the
technological goodies known to man. It also having been established that civilized environments require
efficient supervision, constant care, and mechanical savoir-faire, ISA recruited a civilian cadre of experts
to staff and maintain the city and to educate and train the Siw. Then, to teach the Siw technological
self-reliance and to find cut whether they were worth all the trouble, ISA put the city on an
incommunicado status and left it to shift for itself for five years. When the trial period ended, they sent an
inspector to look things over and report back. The inspectorтАЩs name was G. A. Firby, and technology
was his tutor, his mistress and his god. He might question his tutor and have misgivings about his mistress,
but he never doubted his god.

***

It was the first time Firby had seen the city, and his reaction upon being greeted by its mayor, who as
head of cadre had been alerted to his coming, was one of cautious surprise. The elevated apron against
which he had berthed his one-man spaceship was near enough to the outskirts to afford him an excellent
view of the south side. However, it wasnтАЩt the pleasant and practical layout of the buildings, street and
parking lots that occasioned his surprise, but their air of brand-newness. The buildings looked as though
they had been built, yesterday, the Streets as though they had been laid that very morning and the parking
lots as though they had been black-topped less than an our ago. Moreover, the electric runabouts, both
those cruising the streets and those parked in the lots, gave the impression they had just rolled off the
assembly line.
тАЬSort of takes your breath away, doesn't it?тАЭ Mayor Henry Kobecker said. Despite the jaunty white
feather he wore in his hat, he seemed nervous and ill at ease. His instructions were to conduct the tour
without fanfare; he gave the impression that he didn't want to conduct it at all.
"It takes more than a view of a few housetops to take my breath away,тАЭ Firby said .
тАЬQuite so," the mayor agreed. тАЬQuite so. Will, you come this way, Mr. Firby?тАЭ
Firby accompanied his host down a ramp to where the latter's runabout and Siw chauffeur were
waiting. He had no qualms about leaving his ship unguarded. It was equipped with a, special anti-burglar
device that made mayhem of would-be intruders and sounded an alarm that was audible for a radius of
ten miles.
The chauffeur's skin was the hue of varnished mahogany. After seating his two passengers in the rear
of the runabout; he withdrew a handful of yellow pellets from a pocket in his mauve uniform and
scattered them over the hood. Then he got behind the steering wheel and turned on the motor.
тАЬWhat was that he threw on the hood?тАЭ Firby asked.
тАЬNative corn," Mayor Kobecker replied "According to Siw, superstition, it brings good luck.тАЭ
тАЬFirby gave his host a long look, but made no comment.
The chauffeur rolled back the roof, "Which where, Mayhar?тАЭ
тАЬI think weтАЩll start with the Administration Building, Albert."
The mayor faced Firby. "Is that agreeable with you, sir?тАЭ
 Firby did not answer. His eyes had focused of their own accord on a distant high-rise apartment
building that had just caught the rays of the morning sun. He had eyes like a hawk, and if there'd been a