"Arcady And Boris Strugatsky. Prisoners of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора The civilian wrote something rapidly on the magazine and, passed it to
the brigadier. The brigadier was surprised and looked at the civilian dubiously. The civilian smiled. Then, shrugging his shoulders, the brigadier addressed the captain: "Captain Chachu. You were a witness. How did the accused conduct himself when arrested?" "He was sprawled on the floor," replied the captain glumly. "In other words, he did not resist. So-o." The brigadier paused briefly again, rose, and pronounced sentence: "Prisoner Seven-Three-One-Three is sentenced to death. Until the date is set, the prisoner will be sent into exile for reeducation." Captain Chachu looked scornful and bewildered. The one-armed prisoner laughed softly and shook his head as they led him out. Number 7314 was brought in. This was the man who had lain screaming and writhing on the floor. Although he was very frightened, he behaved defiantly. As soon as he appeared in the doorway, he shouted that he would not answer questions or beg for leniency. And he did remain silent and refused to answer a single question, even the civilian's question about mistreatment while under arrest. The interrogation ended when the brigadier looked at the civilian and blinked inquiringly. The civilian nodded and said: "Yes, give him to me." He seemed very pleased. The brigadier ran through the remaining papers and said: "Let's go, gentlemen. Let's get something to eat." The court adjourned. Maxim and Pandi were permitted to stand at ease. When the captain, too, had left the room, Pandi said indignantly: "Did you see those animals? Worse than I snakes. If they didn't get headaches, how could you tell they I were degens? It's frightening to think what would Maxim did not reply. He was in no mood for conversation. His picture of this world, which had seemed so clear-cut and logical only yesterday, was now eroded and blurred. Pandi continued talking, not needing any response from Maxim. Removing his white gloves to avoid soiling them, he took a bag of roasted nuts from his pocket and offered some to Maxim. He began to tell him how he detested this assignment. First of all, he was deathly afraid of catching something from the degens. Second, some of them, like this one-armed fellow, behaved so disrespectfully that he could scarcely control himself. Once he had taken it as long as he could and then given one of them a good punch in the jaw. He was almost broken to candidate. Thanks to the captain, all he got was twenty days in the stockade plus forty days without leave. Maxim chewed the nuts in silence, scarcely listening to Pandi's chatter. "Hate," he thought. "These hate the others, and they hate back. But why? 'The most loathsome government.' Why is it loathsome? Where did he get the idea? Corrupted his people. How? What does all this mean? And that civilian... was he really hinting at torture? That sort of thing died out centuries ago, In the Middle Ages. But what about fascism? Hitler. Auschwitz. Race theory, genocide. World destruction. Guy - a fascist? And Rada? Unlikely. The captain? I wish I understood the connection between those terrible headaches and their disobeying the authorities. Why is it that only degens are trying to destroy the ABM network? And why not all degens?" "Corporal Pandi," he asked, "what about the Khontis - are they all |
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