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

can't be true. That it's a mistake."
"That happens," said Guy, frowning. "But if you're referring to degens
..."
"Precisely. I watched them today. They're ordinary people... like
everybody else. Some a little better, some a little worse. Some are brave,
others cowardly. But they certainly aren't the animals I expected. Or that
all of you think they are. Wait, don't interrupt me. I don't know if they
are dangerous. Everything seems to indicate that they are. But I don't
believe they're bought."
"Why can't you believe it? Look, let's say you don't believe me; I'm a
little guy. But what about the captain? And the brigadier?"
Maxim threw off his jump suit, went over to the window, and stared out,
pressing his forehead against the pane.
"And if mistakes are made?"
"Mistakes?" Guy was bewildered. "Who makes mistakes? The brigadier?
Mac, you areare a jerk!"
"OK." Mac turned around. "But we're not discussing him now. We're
talking about the degens. Let's take you, for example. You would die for
your cause, right?"
"Right! And so would you."
"OK, so we would. And that's precisely my point. We would die for a
cause, not for the Legion's rations or for money. Offer me a billion of your
paper bills and I wouldn't be willing to die for it. And you're the same
way."
"Of course," said Guy, thinking what a character Mac was, always
getting strange ideas.
"Well?"
"What do you mean - well?"
"Well, all right," said Maxim impatiently. "You wouldn't agree to die
for money. Neither would I. But you think the degens would? Ridiculous!"
"Sure they would!" Guy was steamed up. "That's why they're degens!
Money means more to them than anything else. Nothing's holy to them.
Strangling a child is no big deal to them, They've done it! Get this, Mac:
if a man tries to destroy the ABM network, what kind of man can he be? I'll
tell you - a cold-blooded murderer!"
"I'm not so sure about that. Some of them were interrogated today. If
they had named their confederates, they could have saved their necks, gotten
off with hard labor in a penal colony, But they didn't. So doesn't that mean
that their confederates mean more to them than money? More than life
itself?"
"You can't say that for sure," replied Guy. "According to the law, all
the degens would be sentenced to death, without a court trial. You yourself
saw them tried."
He looked at Mac and saw that he was confused and wavering. He was
really good-hearted but so naive; he didn't understand that cruelty to the
enemy was unavoidable. He should really lay it on the line, tell him to stop
talking nonsense, to shut up and listen to his superiors. Mac was no
blockhead or ignorant kid; if things were explained to him properly, he'd
understand.
"No!" said Mac stubbornly. "You can't hate for money alone. And the