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

"Shoot," said Broadshoulders. "You, doctor, will answer them. We'll
listen."
"Who are the Creators and what do they want?" began Maxim.
"The Creators," said the doctor, "are an anonymous group of the most
skillful schemers in finance, politics, and the military. They have two
motives. Their principal motive is to stay in power, and their secondary
motive is to derive maximum gratification from this power. They're all
thieves, sensualists, sadists. And they're all power hungry. Enough?"
"What about their economic program?" asked Maxim. "Their ideology?
Their power base? Who do they count on for support?"
Everyone exchanged glances again. Forester stared open-mouthed at
Maxim.
"Economic programs?" said the doctor. "You expect too much of us. We
are not theoreticians. We are realists. The overriding issue for us is their
desire to destroy us. We are literally fighting for our lives." He stuffed
his pipe.
"I didn't intend to offend anyone. I am only trying to understand what
it's all about." He would have explained the theory of historical necessity,
but their language lacked the necessary words. "What is it that you want?
Besides your struggle for survival, what are your goals? And who are you?"
"Let me answer him," said Forester suddenly. "Let me tell him. My
friend, I don't know how it is with you mountaineers, but I can tell you how
people in our country feel. We want to live, we love life. And you ask what
else we want? For me that's enough. Do you think that's so little? Oh,
you're a brave one, all right! But try hiding out in a cellar, away from
your home, your wife and family, when everyone has turned from you. Cut out
the fine words."
"Take it easy, Forester," said Broadshoulders.
"No, why should I? A fine one he is with his twaddle about society and
economic programs."
"Easy, Forester," said the doctor. "Don't get all worked up. You see,
this fellow doesn't understand anything." He turned to Maxim. "Our movement
is very heterogeneous. We don't have a unified political program - it's not
possible. We kill them because they're killing us. You must understand. We
are all condemned men and women with little hope of survival. For us biology
obscures politics. Survival is our main goal. We've no time to worry about
theoretical foundations. So if you were to come out with some sort of social
program, nothing would come of it."
"But what's behind all this? Why are they trying to destroy you?" asked
Maxim.
"We are considered degenerates. No one remembers how it all started.
But the Creators have something to gain by exterminating us: it distracts
the people from domestic problems, from the financiers' corruption, from the
enormous profits made on the sales of munitions and the construction of the
ABM towers."
"Now it's beginning to make sense," said Maxim. "So money is the
reason. Which means that the Creators are serving the moneyed interests. And
who else are they shielding?"
"No, they aren't serving or shielding anyone. The Creators themselves
are the moneyed interests. They are everything. Yet, in a way, they're