"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - Spontaneous Reflex" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

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Copyright Arcady and Boris Strugatsky
Copyright 2002 Translated by Vera Zaychik, zaychik@drexel.edu
Origin: "Spontanniy refleks"
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Utm got bored.
In general, boredom as a reaction to the tedium and monotony of
surroundings or inner dissatisfaction with oneself, and loss of interest in
life, are only characteristic of Man and some animals. To be bored one needs
to have something to be bored with, so to say, - that is, a delicately and
perfectly organized nervous system. One needs the capacity for abstract
thought or, at the very least, suffering. Utm had no nervous system in the
common sense of the word, and he did not ponder abstract thoughts. What is
more, he did not know how to suffer. He only took in his surroundings,
memorized and acted. Nevertheless, he got bored.
The thing is, nothing new around him was left to memorize since the
Master left. Accumulation of new impressions was the main stimulus governing
Utm and triggering his actions. He was possessed by insatiable curiosity,
voracious thirst to take in and memorize as much as possible. If there were
no unknown facts and phenomenon, they had to be found.
However, Utm's surroundings were familiar to him 'til the last
brushstroke and last touch. He remembered this spacious square area with
rough gray walls, low ceiling and steel door from the very first moment of
his existence. It always smelled of warm steel and insulating fluid. Some
barely discernable low humming could be heard from somewhere above - people
could not hear him without special equipment, but Utm could hear everything
perfectly. The fluorescent lamps below the ceiling were off but Utm could
see the room perfectly in infrared light and through the impulses of his
sonar.
So Utm got bored and decided to go in search of new sensations. It had
been half an hour since Master left. Utm knew through experience that Master
would not come back any time soon. This was very important since once when
Utm had endeavored to take a little walk around the room without an order,
his Master caught him in the act and did something that left Utm
incapacitated and unable to move even his sonar arrays. Though it seemed
this was not something to be worried about at the moment.
Utm swayed and made a heavy step forward. Cement floor resonated under
his thick rubber soles and Utm stopped for a moment to listen. He even
stooped. But the range of sounds emitted by the vibrating cement had nothing
unfamiliar in it, and Utm again headed for the opposing wall. He came up
really close to it and sniffed. The wall smelled of wet concrete and rusting
steel. Nothing new here. So Utm turned, scratching the wall with his sharp
steel elbow in the process, crossed the room diagonally and stopped in front
of the door. It was not self-evident how to open the door and Utm did not
immediately figure out how to accomplish that operation. He stretched out
his jagged left arm-manipulator, nimbly grabbed the door knob and turned it.