"Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky. The Time Wanderers (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

all, I am offering far from everything that is known to me, naturally. Some
of the material is too special in nature to be presented here. Some names I
will not give, out of purely ethical considerations. I will also refrain
from mentioning certain specific methods of my work then as head of the
Department of Unusual Events (UEs) of the Commission on Control (COMCON-2).

Secondly, the events of the year 99 were not, strictly speaking, the
early days of the Big Revelation, but, on the contrary, its last days. I
think this is precisely what the Luden group people do not understand, or
rather, do not wish co understand, despite all my efforts to convince them.
Of course, perhaps I was not insistent enough. I'm not young anymore.

The personality of Toivo Glumov and the Luden group are linked. I can
understand why, and therefore I made him the central figure in my memoir.

For whatever reasons I might recall those days and whatever I might
remember about those days, Toivo Glumov appears in my mind. I see his thin,
always serious young face, his long white lashes, always lowered over his
transparent gray eyes, and I hear his apparently intentional slow speech.
Once again I feel his silent, helpless, but inexorable pressure, like a
wordless cry: "Well, what's the matter with you? Why are you doing nothing?
Give me an order!" And, vice versa, no sooner do I remember him for some
reason than the "mean dogs of recollection" wake up, as if from a swift
kick: all the horror of those days, all the despair of those days, all the
impotence of those days -- horror, despair, and impotence that I experienced
alone, because I had no one with whom to share them.

This memoir is based on documents. As a rule, these are standard
reports made by my inspectors, and some official correspondence, which I
cite primarily to re-create the atmosphere of those days. In general, a
picky and competent researcher would have no difficulty in noticing that a
large number of documents that relate to the case are not in the memoir,
while I could have managed without some of the documents that are included.
Responding ahead of time to this rebuke, I will note that I selected the
materials In accordance with certain principles, which I have no desire nor
pressing need to go into.

Further, a significant portion of the text is made up of chapter
reconstructions. These chapters are written by me and in fact are
reconstructions of scenes and events that I did not witness. The
reconstructions were based on oral accounts, tape recordings, and subsequent
reminiscences by people who took part in these scenes and events, such as
Toivo Glumov's wife, Asya, his colleagues, acquaintances, and so on. I
realize that the value of these chapters for the Luden group people is not
great, but what can I do? It is greatly significant for me.

Finally, I allowed myself to dilute the information-bearing text of the
memoir with personal reminiscences that carry information not so much about
the events of those days as about the Maxim Kammerer of those days, at age
58. The behavior of that man In the circumstances depicted seems to me to be