"Delany, Samuel R - The Ballad Of Beta2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Delaney Samuel R)

The Ballad of Beta 2
by Samuel R. Delany
Version 1.0
A #BW release

I

"QUITE SIMPLY, the answer is—because they are
there!"

White light from the helical fixture struck the
sharp bones of the professor's face.

"But..." began Joneny.

"But, no," the professor cut him off. They were
alone in the office. "It isn't that simple, is it? The
reason is that many of them were once there, and
they did something that had never been done be-
fore—that will never be done again—and because
remnants of them are there now. That is why you
will study them."

"But, sir," Joneny persisted, "that's not what I
asked. I'm requesting a personal dispensation that will
exempt me from research work on this unit. I ex-
pect to be held accountable for all examination ques-
tions on the Star Folk but I'm already an honors
student and, on the strength of that, I'm asking to
skip the detail work on them. I'm perfectly willing
to put in the time on my thesis topic, the Nukton
Civilization of Creton III, or anything else that's
reasonable, sir." Then, as an afterthought, "I realize

it would be a privileged exemption that only you
can grant."

"That is quite correct," the professor said coolly;
then he leaned forward. "On the strength of your
'honors,' Joneny—and you're more than a good
student, you're an amazing one—I'll listen to your
objections. But I have to admit that there's some-
thing about your request that annoys me."

Joneny took a breath. "I just don't want to waste
my time on them, sir. There's so much needed re-
search in a field like Galactic Anthropology; and,
as far as I can see, the Star Folk are just a dead
end, with no significance at all. They were a very
minor transition factor that was eliminated from the