"Frank Herbert - The Santaroga Barrier" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

fact" about Santaroga: There was something extraordinary at work here,
something far more disturbing than any so-called market study had ever tackled
before.

Meyer Davidson, the soft looking, pink fleshed little man who'd presented
himself as the agent of the investment corporation, the holding company behind
the chain stores paying for this project, had put it in an angry nutshell at
the first orientation meeting: "The whole thing about Santaroga boils down to
this -- Why were we forced to close our branches there? Why won't even one
Santarogan trade with an outsider? That's what we want to know. What's this
Santaroga Barrier which keeps us from doing business there?"

Davidson wasn't as soft as he looked.

Dasein started the truck, turned on his headlights, resumed his course down
the winding grade.

All the data was a single datum.
Outsiders found no houses for rent or sale in this valley.

Santaroga officials said they had no juvenile delinquency figures for the
state's statistics.

Servicemen from Santaroga always returned when they were discharged. In fact,
no Santarogan had ever been known to move out of the valley.

Why? Was it a two-way barrier?

And the curious anomalies: The data had included a medical journal article by
Jenny's uncle, Dr. Lawrence Piaget, reputedly the valley's leading physician.
The article: "The Poison Oak Syndrome in Santaroga." Its substance:
Santarogans had a remarkable susceptibility to allergens when forced to live
away from their valley for extended periods. This was the chief reason for
service rejection of Santaroga's youths.

Data equaled datum.

Santaroga reported no cases of mental illness or mental deficiency to the
State Department of Mental Hygiene. No Santarogan could be found in a state
mental hospital. (The psychiatrist who headed Dasein's university department,
Dr. Chami Selador, found this fact "alarming.")

Cigarette sales in Santaroga could be accounted for by transient purchasers.

Santarogans manifested an iron resistance to national advertising. (An
un-American symptom, according to Meyer Davidson.)

No cheese, wines or beers made outside the valley could be marketed to
Santarogans.