"Frank Herbert - The GM Effect" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

black races, which, I suppose, will forever forbid the two races living together upon terms of
social and political equality; and in as much as they cannot so live - while they do remain
together - there must be the position of the superiors and the inferiors; and that I, as much
as any other man, am in favor of the superior being assigned to the white man.' '
 Latchley sighed, stuffed the paper into a pocket. 'Most distressing,' he said. 'Once, in a
conversation with Butler, Lincoln suggested that all Negroes should be deported to Africa.
Another time, talking about the Emancipation Proclamation, he said: 'If it helps preserve the
Union, that's enough. But it's as clear to me as it is to any thinking man in the Republic that
this proclamation will be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court following the
cessation of hostilities.' '
Sabantoce interrupted: 'How many of you realize what hot potatoes these are?'
The faces around the table turned toward him then back to Latchley.
'Once you have the clue of an on-the-scene observer,' Latchley said, 'you even find
correspondence and other records of corroboration. It's amazing how people used to hide their
papers.'
The talkative graduate student leaned his elbows on the table, said: 'The hotter the
potato, the more people will notice it, isn't that right, Professor Latchley?'
Poor fellow's bucking for a better grade even now, Sabantoce thought. And he answered
for Latchley: 'The hottest potatoes are the most difficult to swallow, too.'
The inane exchange between Sabantoce and the student left a hollow silence behind it and
a deepening sense of uneasiness.
Another student said: 'Where's Dr Marrnon? I understand he has a theory that the more GM
we bring into contact with consciousness, the more we're controlled by the dominant brutality
of our ancestors. You know, he says the most brutal ones survived to have children and we
kind of gloss that over in our present awareness ... or something like that.'
Old Inkton stirred out of his semidaze, turned his sour milk eyes on Latchley. 'Pilgrims,' he
said. 'Ah, yes,' Latchley said.
Sabantoce said: 'We have eye-witness accounts of Puritans and Pilgrims robbing and raping
Indians. Brutality. Some of my ancestors, I'm afraid.'
'Tea party,' Old Inkton said.
Why doesn't the old fool shut up? Latchley wondered. And he found himself increasingly
uneasy about Marmon's absence. Could there have been a double double-cross? he asked
himself.
'Why not outline the Boston Tea Party?' Sabantoce asked. There're a few here who weren't
in on that phase.'
'Yes ... ahhh-mmmm,' Latchley said. 'Massachusetts had a smuggling governor then, of
course. Everybody of consequence in the Colonies was smuggling. Navigation Acts and all
that. The governor and his cronies were getting their tea from the Dutch. Had warehouses full
of it. The British East India Company was on the verge of bankruptcy when the British
Government voted a subsidy - equivalent to more than twenty million dollars in current
exchange. Because of this ... ahh, subsidy, the East India Company's tea could be sent in at
about half the price of the smuggled tea - even including the tax. The governor and his
henchmen faced ruin. So they hired brigands to wear Indian disguise and dump the East India
Company's tea into the harbor - about a half million dollars worth of tea. And the interesting
thing is it was better tea than the smugglers had. Another item to note is that the governor
and his cronies then added the cost of the hired brigand onto the price charged for their
smuggled tea.'
'Hot potatoes,' Sabantoce said. 'And we haven't even gone into the religious issues -
Moses and his aides drafting the Ten Commandments ... the argument between Pilate and the
religious fanatic.'