"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
happen."
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