"E. E. Doc Smith - Lensman 1 - Triplanetary" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

disloyalty exists among us.”

“Which certification is not worth a damn,” the burly Officer declared. “What assurance do we have that
Talmonides himself is not one of the ringleaders? Mind you, I have no reason to believe that he is not
completely loyal. In fact, since he has been one of my best friends for over twenty years, I believe
implicitly that he is. Nevertheless the plain fact is, Ariponides, that all the precautions you have taken, and
any you can take, are and will be useless insofar as definite knowledge is concerned. The real truth is and
will remain unknown.”

“You are right,” the Psychologist conceded. “And, such being the case, perhaps I should withdraw from
the meeting.”

“That wouldn’t help, either.” Artomenes shook his head. “Any competent plotter would be prepared for
this, as for any other contingency. One of us others would be the real operator.”

“And the fact that our Officer is the one who is splitting hairs so finely could be taken to indicate which
one of us the real operator could be,” Marxes pointed out, cuttingly.

“Gentlemen! Gentlemen!” Ariponides protested. “While absolute certainty is of course impossible to any
finite mind, you all know how Talmonides was tested; you know that in his case there is - no reasonable
doubt. Such chance as exists, however, must be taken, for if we do not trust each other fully in this
undertaking, failure is inevitable. With this word of warning I will get on with my report.

“This world-wide frenzy of unrest followed closely upon the controlled liberation of atomic energy and
may be - probably is - traceable to it. It is in no part due to imperialistic aims or acts on the part of
Atlantis. This fact cannot be stressed too strongly. We never have been and are not now interested in
Empire. It is true that the other nations began as Atlantean colonies, but no attempt was ever made to
hold any one of them in colonial status against the wish of its electorate. All nations were and are sister
states. We gain or lose together. Atlantis, the parent, was and is a clearing- house, a co-ordinator of
effort, but has never claimed or sought authority to rule; all decisions being based upon free debate and
free and secret ballot.

“But now! Parties and factions everywhere, even in old Atlantis. Every nation is torn by internal
dissensions and strife. Nor is this all. Uighar as a nation is insensately jealous of the Islands of the South,
who in turn are jealous of Maya. Maya of Bantu, Bantu of Ekopt, Ekopt of Norheim, and Norheim of
Uighar. A vicious circle, worsened by other jealousies and hatreds intercrossing everywhere. Each fears
that some other is about to try to seize control of the entire world; and there seems to be spreading
rapidly the utterly baseless belief that Atlantis itself is about to reduce all other nations of Earth to
vassalage.

“This is a bald statement of the present condition of the world as I see it. Since I can see no other course
possible , within the constituted framework of our democratic government, I recommend that we
continue our present activities, such as the international treaties and agreements upon which we are now
at work, intensifying our effort wherever possible. We will now hear from Statesman Cleto.”

“You have outlined the situation clearly enough, Faros. My thought, however, is that the principal cause
of the trouble is the coming into being of this multiplicity of political parties, particularly those composed