"Mack Reynolds - Planetary Agent X" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

Even on the fast Space Forces cruiser, the trip was going to
take a week, and there was precious little Ronny Bronston could do
until arrival. He spent most of his time reading up on New Delos
and the several other planets in the UP organization which had
fairly similar regimes. More than a few theocracies had come and
gone during the history of man’s development into the stars.
He also spent considerable time playing Battle Chess or
talking with Tog and with the ship’s officers.
These latter were a dedicated group, high in morale and
enthusiastic about their work, which evidently involved the
combined duties of a Navy, a Coast Guard, and a Coast and
Geodetic Survey system, if we use the ocean going services of an
earlier age for analogy.
They all had the dream. The enthusiasm of men participating
in a race’s expansion to glory. There was the feeling, even stronger
here in space than back on Earth, that man’s destiny was being
fulfilled, that humanity had finally emerged from its infancy, that
the fledgling had finally found its wings and got off the ground.
After one of his studying binges, Ronny Bronston spent an
hour or so once with the captain of the craft, while that officer
stood an easy watch on the ship’s bridge. There was little enough to
do in space, practically nothing, but there was always an officer on
watch.
They leaned back in the acceleration chairs before the ship’s
controls and Ronny listened to the other’s space lore. Stories of far
planets, as yet untouched. Stories of planets that had seemingly
been suitable for colonization, but had proved disastrous for man,
for this reason or that.
 Ronny said, “And never in all this time have we run into a life
form that has proved intelligent?”
Captain Woiski said, “No. Not that I know of. There was an
animal on Shangri-La of about the mental level of the chimpanzee.
So far as I know, that’s the nearest to it.”
“Shangri-La?” Ronny said. “That’s a new one.”
There was an affectionate gleam in the captain’s eye. “Yes,”
he said. “If and when I retire, I think that’d be the planet of my
choice. If I could get permission to leave Earth, of course.”
Ronny scowled in attempted memory. “Now that you
mention it, I think I did see it listed the other day among planets
with a theocratic government.”
The captain grunted protest. “If you’re comparing it to this
New Delos you’re going to, you’re wrong. There can be theocracy
and theocracy, I suppose. Actually, I imagine Shangri-La has the
most, well gentle government in the system.”
Ronny was interested. His recent studies hadn’t led him to
much respect for a priesthood in political power. “What’s the
particular feature that’s seemed to have gained your regard?”
“Moderation,” Woiski chuckled. “They carry it almost to the
point of immoderation. But not quite. Briefly, it works something