"Skylark 04 - Skylark DuQuesne (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

made. His wife was a nearer problem. Paying full attention to her now, he put his arm
around her and squeezed.

"Converting a whole planet practically all at once to use fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-order
stuff is a job of work, believe me. It's all so new and so tough that not too many people
can handle any part of it. It takes brains. And what makes it extra tough is that
altogether too many people who are smart enough to learn it are crooks. Shysters-
hoodlers-sticky-fingers generally. But I think we're just about over the hump. I wouldn't
wonder if these Norlaminian `Observers'-snoopers, really-from the Country of Youth will
turn out to be the answer to prayer."

"They'd better," she said, darkly. "At least, something had better."

"Besides, if you think I look like the wrath of God, take a good look at Mart sometime.
He's having more grief than I am."

"I already have; he looks like a refugee from a concentration camp. Peggy was
screaming about it this morning, and we're both going to just simply . . ."

What the girls intended to do was not revealed, for at. that moment there appeared in
the air before them the projected simulacra of eight green-skinned, more-or-less-human
men; the men with whom they had worked so long; the ablest thinkers of the Central
System.

There was majestic Fodan, the Chief of the Five of Norlamin; there was white-bearded
Orlon, the First of Astronomy; Rovol, the First of Rays; Astron, the First of Energy;
Drasnik, the First of Psychology; Satrazon and Castor, the Firsts of Chemistry and of
Mechanism, respectively; and-in some ways not the least-there was that powerhouse of
thought Sacner Carfon the two thousand three hundred forty-sixth: the hairless, almost
porpoise-like Chief of the Council of the watery planet Dasor. They were not present in
the flesh. But their energy projections were as seemingly solid as Seaton's own tall,
lean body.

"We come, Overlord of the System, upon a matter of-" the Chief of the Five began.

"Don't call me `Overlord'. Please." Seaton broke in, with grim foreboding in his eyes
while Dorothy stiffened rigidly in the circle of his arms. Both knew that those masters of
thought could scarcely be prevailed upon to leave their own worlds even via projection.
For all eight of them to come this far-almost halfway across the galaxy!-meant that
something was very wrong indeed.

"I've told you a dozen times, not only I ain't no Overlord but I don't want to be and won't
be. I don't like to play God-I simply have not got what it takes."

" `Coordinator', then, which is of course a far better term for all except the more
primitive races," Fodan went imperturbably on. "We have told you, youth, not a dozen
times, but once, which should have been sufficient, that your young and vigorous race
possesses qualities that our immensely older peoples no longer have. You, as the
ablest individual of your race, are uniquely qualified to serve total civilization. Thus,
whenever your services become necessary, you will so serve. Your services have again