"Harlan Ellison - Paingod & Other Delusions" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ellison Harlan)

more to Themus. The younger Watcher tightened inside. Here it comes.
Unexpectedly, the senior Watcher’s voice was quiet, almost gentle. “Come with me, Themus, I want to talk
with you.”
They strode through the street of Valasah, capital of Kyba, watching the other branch of Kyben. The native
Kyben, those who put light-tubes in their mouths and twisted their ears in expectation of fluorescence, those who
pulled their teeth with adjusto-wrenches, those who sat and scribbled odd messages on the sidewalks, called the
armor-dressed Kyben “Stuffed-Shirts.” The governing Kyben, those with the armor and high-crested metal helmets
bearing the proud emblem of the eye-and-eagle, called their charges, “Crackpots,”
They were both Kyben.
There was a vast difference.
Furth was about to delineate the difference to his new aide. The senior Watcher’s great cape swirled in a rain
of black as he turned into the Pub-crawler.
At a table near the front, Furth pulled his cape about his thighs and sat down, motioning Themus to the other
chair.
The waiter walked slowly over to them, yawning behind his hand, Furth dictated the fact briefly. The waiter
gave a high-pitched maniacal laugh. Themus felt his blood chill. These people were all mad, absolutely mad.
“Two glasses of greth, “ Furth said.
The waiter left. Furth recorded the fact. The waiter had kicked him before he had gone behind the bar.
When the drinks arrived, Furth took a long pull from the helix-shaped glass, slumped back, folded his hands
on the table and said, “What did you learn at Academy-Central?”
The question took Themus by surprise. “Wh-what do you mean? I learned a great many things.”
“Such as? Tell me.”
“Well, there was primary snooping, both conscious and subconscious evaluation; reportage-four full years
of it-shorthand, applied dictology, history, manners, customs, authority evaluation, mechanics, fact assemblage...”
He found the subjects leaping to the front of his mind, tumbling from his lips. He had been second in his class
of twelve hundred, and it had all stuck.
Furth cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Let’s take that history. Capsule it for me.”
Furth was a big man, eyes oddly set far back in hollows above deep yellow cheeks, hair white about the
temples, a lean and electric man, the type who radiates energy even when asleep. Themus suspected this was his
superior’s way of testing him. He recited:
“The Corps is dedicated to gathering data. It will Watch and detect, assimilate and file. Nothing will escape
the gaze of the Watcher. As the eagle soars, so the eye of the Watcher will fly to all things.”
“God, no, man, I mean the History! The History. “ The elder Watcher precision-tapped his fingers one after
another in irritation. “What is the story of the Kyben. Of Kyba itself. Of your job here. What is our relation to these?”
He waved his hand, taking in the bar, the people in the streets, the entire planet and its twin suns blazing
yellow in the afternoon sky.
Themus licked his thin lips, “The Kyben rule the Galaxy-is that what you want?” He breathed easier as the
older man nodded. He continued, by rote: “The Kyben rule the Galaxy. They are the organizers. All other races realize
the superior reasoning and administrative powers of the Kyben, and thus allow the Kyben to rule the Galaxy.”
He stopped, biting his lower lip, “With your permission, Superior, can I do this some other way? Back at
Academy-Central memorization was required, even on Penares it seemed apropos, but somehow-here-it sounds foolish
to me. No disrespect intended, you understand. I’d just like to ramble it off quickly. I gather all you want are the
basics.”
The older man nodded his head for Themus to continue in any fashion he chose.
“We are a power, and all the others are too scared of us to try usurping because we run it all better than any
ten of them could, and the only trouble is with the Earthmen and the Mawson Confederation, with whom we are
negotiating right now. The only thing we have against us is this planet of black sheep relatives. They happen to be
our people. but we left them some eleven hundred years ago because they were a pain in the neck and the Kyben
realized they had a universe to conquer, and we wish we could get lid of them, because they’re all quite mad, and if
anyone finds out about them, we’ll lose prestige, and besides they’re a nuisance.”