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

Creators 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
company kitchen?"
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