"Alexander Kazantsev. The Destruction of Faena (ГИБЕЛЬ ФАЭНЫ, англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

"balance of fear" came down with a crash and he now began voicing a demand
for the total elimination of all reserves of disintegration weapons and a
ban on their use. Many sober minds supported him.
In the tense pre-war atmosphere, Yar Jupi found himself hearing more
and more often the name of Um Sat, who had discovered the secret of the
disintegration of matter and was now appealing to the conscience of the
Faetians so that it could be "covered up again".
The Dictator received reports of dangerous conversations: "If the
roundheads could give the planet a Faetian like Um Sat, then how can they be
declared inferior? Why do the roundheads have to work twice as hard as
others, but throughout the life of one generation they must yield their
place on Faena to the longfaces?"
Yar Jupi sensed a threat in these "brazen" questions!
Fearing another Uprising of Justice, the Dictator lost his peace of
mind. He fell prey to persecution mania. He no longer left the Lair, where
he led an ostentatiously ascetic life. He was equally mistrustful of the
roundheads and the longfaces, and even of the proprietors of the Council of
Blood, whom he served and to whom he could become useless.
To appease the people, who were boiling with rage, he stepped up his
preparations for a disintegration war, promising that the ban on roundheads
having children would be lifted after the successful end of the war and the
resettlement of the victors on the overseas continent.
Alongside this, he muffled the discontent of the toilers with
adventurist plans for the transfer of the roundheads to the planet Mar,
where they would be free of all prohibitions (as if it was simply a matter
of resettlement!).
He therefore encouraged the conquest of space and promoted the creation
of Space Station Deimo near Mar. The Culturals already had a base there
named Phobo. Yar Jupi even agreed to declare Outer Space "peaceful", since
the interests of the proprietors clashed mainly on Faena.
However, the great learned Elder Um Sat, who had solved the mysteries
of matter, could not fathom the depths of unscrupulous politics. For him,
the "problem of overpopulating the planet" really blotted out everything
else, although, in fact, it merely aggravated the burdens of the toilers and
their struggle with the proprietors, not to mention the hostility of the
proprietors amongst themselves. Evidently, in order to be a true Elder, it
was still inadequate to be learned in one specific branch of knowledge.
No one had expected to see the cautious and calculating Yar Jupi at a
session of Peaceful Space. He was too afraid of assassination. Obviously, it
was not for nothing that Yar Jupi had chosen a place for the session near
the Lair. The Temple of Eternity communicated with the former monastery by
an underground passage.
During the session, Yar Jupi suddenly appeared out of the wall with two
impressive robot bodyguards.
He was a tall, well-built Faetian with a long, clean-shaven face, a
small dark beard, a hooked nose, a narrow, harsh mouth and suspicious,
restless eyes that looked out from under the zigzags of irregular eyebrows.
His egg-shaped skull, clean shaven on purpose, was considered to be of
impeccable form among the Superiors. There was something bird-like and
predatory in the expression on his face.