"Arcady And Boris Strugatsky. Prisoners of Power" - читать интересную книгу автораCreators were real martyrs and were truly engaged in unequal battle if all
they had at their command were such miserable, blind supporters. Guy decided not to argue with him because Unc understood nothing about politics. Mac tried to get involved in the argument and began to talk about the one-armed degen, but Guy cut short his feeble attempts to publicize a service secret. He told Rada to serve the second course and asked Mac to turn on the television set. "Too much yak-yakking today," he said. "We're on leave; let's relax." But his imagination had been aroused, and since there was | nothing worthwhile on TV, Guy began to tell stories about the wild degens. Having fought them for three years, he knew a thing or two about them. He hadn't sat it out in the rear like those philosophizing types. Rada felt sorry for the old man and called her brother a braggart. Still, Unc and Mac defended him and asked him to continue. Guy refused: his feelings had been hurt, and besides, he couldn't think of a single example to refute the old souse's arguments. Suddenly he remembered what Zef, first sergeant of the 114th Unit of condemned prisoners, had once told him, and he presented this theory to Unc with pleasure. Zef had said that degens were becoming increasingly active because the radioactive desert was closing in on them. Their only hope for survival was to fight their way into areas free of radioactivity. "Who told you that?" asked Unc scornfully. "What idiot ever concocted that simplistic explanation?" Guy looked at him, gloating, and replied with authority: "That happens to be the opinion of Allu Zef, one of our most eminent psychiatrists." "Where did you meet him?" inquired Unc even more scornfully. "In the Guy bit his tongue and focused his attention on the TV weatherman. Massaraksh, Mac barged into the argument again. "All right, I am ready to grant you that those monsters in the south are some new species. But tell me - what does that landlord Renadu have in common with them? Renadu is also considered a degen, but clearly he doesn't belong to this new species." Since this had never occurred to Guy, he was relieved what Unc jumped in to answer the question. After calling Mac all sort of names, Unc explained that the undetected degens, the city ones, were actually the surviving remnants of the new specie who, in the central regions, had been almost completely wiped out in the cradle. They still remembered those horrors. Many were killed at birth, sometimes together with their mothers. Only the ones in whom the new species traits were invisible to the naked eye survived. Uncle Kaan drained a fifth glass of wine, dropped all restraint, and developed for his audience an efficient program for the medical inspection of the entire population. This, he insisted, must be undertaken sooner or later, and better sooner than later. Absolutely no exceptions! Weeds must be torn with the roots without mercy. With this, dinner ended. Rada cleared the dishes from tit table. Without waiting for his listeners' reactions, Unc triumphantly corked his flask and started for his room. Guy follow"l| him with his eyes - the old man in his threadbare jacket, patched trousers, darned socks, and worn shoes. Damned war! Before the war the entire apartment had belonged to Uncle. He had a servant, wife, son, fancy china, lots of money, even a |
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