"Chalker, Jack L - G.o.d. Inc. 2 - The Shadow Dancers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

gotten sucked into all this 'cause some folks with real power, probably right
here on this planet, ran at least one and maybe many rebel groups that tried to
sucker and screw up and take over parts of the Corporation's territories and
worlds, and we was here at all 'cause there was at least one known traitor and
he had some boss higher up. They was askin' me to risk my mind and my neck
against them folks, so I figured I had a right to bring that up, and did.
Aldrath shrugged. "Humanity is by nature imperfect, and so perfection is not
attainable without also costing humankind the things that are most important to
it. Creativity, a measure of freedom, curiosity, drive, willpower. We can remove
these things, but then we make not perfect humans but perfect automatons. In
spite of the fact that the lowest of the low here have things your richest and
most powerful people would envy, we have classes. It is a part of our culture
and our heritage. Our very language, our accents, are differentiated by class so
that merely by a person's speech we know their station. Our very names are
actually descriptives chosen for their poetry, their symmetry, and their
meaning. My name is actually-" He gave one of them pretty songs. "The names we
give you are rough transliterations of these sounds according to English rules.
The corporate chiefs are the highest class and marry only among their own
families. The professional, or managerial class does the same. The working, or
common class is likewise separated not merely by name and accent but by family
and society. As always, this causes strains."
"And I don't suppose there's anyone really anxious to let people move up," Sam
commented.
"Not many. I, for example, am from the professional class and would not be
anything else. The big limits are all on the corporate class-the people you will
be meeting. They have all the real policy-making power, but they can not
abrogate that power or that responsibility. That's determined almost from birth.
They have very little choice in their lives and much of it is quite boring. I,
on the other hand, am what I am because that's what I wanted to be. I could have
chosen any profession I liked, and if I made the grade I'd have gotten it. If I
didn't, or found I hated it, I could have chosen another. I work as hard as I
like to work-and I very much like working-and get tremendous benefits. I don't
have a private estate here or elsewhere, but I can avail myself of the desirable
parts of any of them."
"Yeah, that's all well and good for you," I said, "but what about the common
folks?"
"Those who greeted you today are so-called common folks. There's no heavy labor;
it's mostly a service and maintenance economy here, and most of what we have
that's really odious is automated. We automated everything once, but finally cut
back so we automated only what people shouldn't ever be required to do. They,
too, have a choice of many jobs, no real stress or pressure they don't wish to
take upon themselves, and much in the way of benefits and opportunities. For
example, how old would you say that trio who met you were?"
"No more than eighteen for the oldest," Sam answered.
The security chief laughed. "The girl is thirty-seven, and the two boys are
thirty-one and forty. When you do jobs you enjoy and have conquered all the
diseases and defects inherent in our ancestry, it's amazing how long a span you
can have. I, for example, am sixty-seven just last month. From your standpoint
I'm probably about half that, which is the way I feel and act. The average
lifespan here is about two hundred and nine years, and you begin to get gray