"Arcady And Boris Strugatsky. Prisoners of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора

towers. It's senseless. I want to fight tyranny, hunger, corruption, lies.
Of course I realize that the towers are torturing you, torturing you
physically. But you don't even know how to fight the towers. Your approach
is idiotic. It's very obvious that the towers are relays. You must strike at
the Center, not try to pick them off one by one."
Vepr and Zef began to speak at the same time.
"How do you know about the Center?" asked Vepr.
"And where would you find the Center?" asked Zef.
"Any fool of an engineer knows there must be a Center," said Maxim
scornfully. "But how to find it - that's the real problem. Forget about
machine guns and killing people uselessly. Find the Center!"
"In the first place we know all this without you." Zef was seething.
"In the second place, massaraksh, no one has died uselessly! Any fool of an
engineer, you snotty bastard, would certainly realize that we could destroy
the relay system and liberate an entire region by toppling several towers.
But for that, we have to know how to topple them. And we're learning how. Do
you or don't you understand? And if you say another word about our people
dying in vain, I'll - "
"Now, wait," said Maxim. "You were saying 'liberate a region.' Fine.
Then what?"
"Then all sorts of pantywaists come and tell us that we're dying for
nothing," said Zef.
"Come on, Zef, then what?" Maxim persisted. "The legionnaires will
bring up mobile emitters and finish you off. Right?"
"Like hell!" said Zef. "Before they get a chance to bring them up, the
population of that region will have come over to our side, and it won't be
so easy for those legionnaires to butt in. It's one thing to deal with a
dozen degens but something else to deal with ten thousand or a hundred
thousand enraged citizens."
"Zef, Zef!" Vepr cautioned him.
Zef waved him away impatiently.
"Hundreds of thousands of city dwellers, farmers, and, maybe, soldiers,
who understand and can never forget how shamefully they have been duped."
Vepr waved his hand and turned away in frustration.
"Now, wait a minute," said Maxim. "What are you saying? Why on earth
should they suddenly understand? They'll tear you to pieces. After all, they
believe those towers are part of an antiballistic missile network."
"And what do you think they are?" asked Zef, smiling strangely.
"Oh, well, I know, of course. I've been told."
"By whom?"
"The doctor. And the General. It's no secret, is it?"
"Maybe that's enough on this subject," said Vepr softly.
"Why enough?" Zef replied softly, and his speech now had a cultured
ring. "Is it, strictly speaking, enough, Vepr? You know what I think about
this. You know why I'm staying here, playing my part, I'll remain here for
the rest of my life. So why is it enough? Both you and I believe that it
must be shouted from the rooftops; but when it comes time to act, we
suddenly remember about discipline and play docilely into the hands of our
great leaders, those outstanding liberals, those pillars of enlightenment.
And now we have this boy before us. You can see what sort of person he is.