"Gordon R. Dickson - Danger-Human" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

his silence, but one of his hands unconsciously made a short, fumbling
motion at his breast pocket.
"My pipe--" said Eldridge.
The three looked at each other. They looked back at Eldridge.
"We have it," said the doctor. "After a while we may give it back to you.
For now ... we cannot allow ... it would not suit us."
"Smoke bother you?" said Eldridge, with a touch of his native
canniness.
"It does not bother us. It is ... merely . . . distasteful," said the
commander. "Let's get on. I'm going to tell you where you are, first. You're
on a world roughly similar to your own, but many . . ." he hesitated,
looking at the academician.
"Light-years," supplemented the deep voice.
 ". . . Light-years in terms of what a year means to you," went on the
commander, with growing briskness. "Many light-years distant from your
home. We didn't bring you here because of any personal . . . dislike ... or
enmity for you; but for. ..."
"Observation," supplied the doctor. The commander turned and bowed
slightly to him, and was bowed back at in return.
". . . Observation," went on the commander. "Now, do you understand
what I've told you so far?"
"I'm listening," said Eldridge.
"Very well," said the commander. "I will go on. There is something
about your people that we are very anxious to discover. We have been, and
intend to continue, studying you to find it out. So far-I will admit quite
frankly and freely-we have not found it; and the concensus among our best
minds is that you, yourself, do not know what it is. Accordingly, we have
hopes of ... causing . . . you to discover it for yourself. And for us."
"Hey. . . ." breathed Eldridge.
"Oh, you will be well treated. I assure you," said the commander,
hurriedly. "You have been well treated. You have been . . . but you did not
know ... I mean you did not feel--"
"Can you remember any discomfort since we picked you up?" asked the
doctor, leaning forward.
"Depends what you mean-"
"And you will feel none." The doctor turned to the commander.
"Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself?"
"Perhaps," said the commander. He bowed and turned back to
Eldridge. "To explain-we hope you will discover our answer for it. We're
only going to put you in a position to work on it. Therefore, we've decided
to tell you everything. First-the problem. Academician?"
The oldest one bowed. His deep voice made the room ring oddly.
"If you will look this way," he said. Eldridge turned his head. The other
raised one paw and the wall beside him dissolved into a maze of lines and
points. "Do you know what this is?"
"No," said Eldridge.
"It is," rumbled the one called the academician, "a map of the known
universe. You lack the training to read it in four dimensions, as it should
be read. No matter. You will take my word for it ... it is a map. A map
covering hundreds of thousands of your light-years and millions of your