" Perry Rhodan 0056 - (48) The Dead Live" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

It was a joke during World War 2 when Hitler gave the world ‘24 hours to get out’ and it was a gag long
ago to say ‘Earth—love it or leave it!’ But now that solution is not only possible but necessary. There is
no longer any room on Earth for rebels against our harmonious life because the Earth belongs to a united
mankind and has no time for misguided malcontents."

"Maybe they should settle on the Moon?" suggested Bell, throwing his good friend Pucky an
encouraging glance. "In my opinion, even Venus isn’t far enough away for them."

"Let’s ship them off to the next galaxy!" Pucky suggested. "They can’t do any harm there."

Rhodan shook his head again. "No use going from one extreme to the other. We have to find the golden
mean—the compromise that will satisfy everyone—and then our problem will be solved. These so-called
Free Settlers aren’t trying to overthrow us, they just simply refuse to be Terrans in our sense of the word.
They won’t recognize the world government—but for that should we declare war on them? Should we
send tens of thousands of people to death because a few fanatics can’t think logically? No, we must do
the opposite—we must help them!"

"Alright," said Pucky resignedly. "So we have to help our poor ungrateful enemies."

Bell leaned forward toward Rhodan, who sat just across the table from him. "So what do you have in
mind?" Pucky had already moved his yard-long mouse form to one side and out of the way, having
telepathically sensed Bell’s intention.

"They’ll be settled elsewhere," said Rhodan. "I’ll put one of the larger spacespheres at their disposal,
along with a 200-man crew, and send them off. They can leave the Earth and look for a new world.
When they find one, they’ll be able to do whatever they please and we won’t have to bother with them
anymore. Don’t you think that’s the best and simplest solution?"

Bell agreed and, Pucky added: "I just hope they don’t run into any Springers and betray the Earth’s
position to them."

"The rebels won’t even know it anymore," Rhodan promised, realising that both his friends had agreed
with his decision at least in principle. Burly, red-haired Bell had been, easier to persuade than Pucky,
who was both an extraordinarily intelligent mousebeaver and one of the most capable mutants of all time.
Rhodan continued: "I’ll have our proposal submitted to the spokesman for the free settlers."

"Why do you call them ‘free settlers’?" Bell asked, cupping his chin in his hands. "Are all the other
colonists from Earth not free then, just because they owe their allegiance to the world government? Is this
a paradox of some kind or…

"They call themselves that," Rhodan explained. "In our official documents and records they are called
‘Anti-social Free Settlers’—the AFS."

"That makes sense," grinned Bell and looked over to Pucky. "What do you think of that, you old carrot
chomper?"

The mousebeaver revealed his single incisor tooth—his version of a smile—and thus showed he was not
averse to a bit of humour such as Bell’s jocular reference to his taste in vegetables.

"Not bad, Reggie," Pucky answered, "Not bad at all. But if there’s anyone who’s antisocial around here,