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

which they had been unexpected and unwitting participants. Deep mentoscopy
confirmed their subjective perception and even showed that, in the very
depth of their subconscious, none of them suspected that it was merely a
theatrical performance.

As far as I know, my colleagues in the other sectors took this for a
rather ordinary UE, an explainable UE, one of the many that constantly occur
beyond the Periphery. Everyone was alive and well. Further work in the area
of the UE was not necessary; it hadn't been necessary in the first place. No
volunteers interested in solving the mystery appeared. The area of the UE
was evacuated. The UE was taken into account. In the files.

But I was a student of the late Sikorski! When he was alive, I had
often argued with him, both mentally and out loud, when talk turned to the
threat to humanity from the outside. But there was one thesis of his that
was hard to dispute and I didn't want to argue with it: "We are workers of
COMCON-2. We are allowed to be called ignoramuses, mystics, and
superstitious fools. There is one thing we are not allowed: to underestimate
danger. And if there is suddenly the odor of sulfur in our house, we are
simply obliged to assume that a horned devil has appeared somewhere nearby
and to take appropriate measures right up to organizing national industrial
production of holy water." No sooner did I hear that someone in white was
speaking in the name of the Wanderers than I smelled sulfur and grew as
agitated as an old warhorse at the sound of bugles.

I made appropriate queries through appropriate channels. Without great
surprise, I learned that in the lexicon of instructions, directives, and
projected plans of our COMCON-2, the word "Wanderer" does not exist I had
been received by the higher-ups and, without the least bit of amazement, I
was convinced that as far as our most responsible leaders were concerned,
the Progressorist activity of the Wanderers in the system of humanity had
been lived through and survived, like a childhood disease. The tragedy of
Lev Abalkin and Rudolf Sikorski in some inexplicable manner had somehow
cleared the Wanderers forever of suspicion.

The only person in whom my anxiety elicited a flash of sympathy was
Athos-Sidorov, the President of my sector and my immediate supervisor. He
confirmed with his authority and affixed with his signature my proposed
theme: "A Visit from an Old Lady." He allowed me to organize a special group
to develop that theme. Actually, he gave me a carte blanche in that area.

And I began by organizing a questionnaire for a number of the most
competent specialists in zenosociology. My aim was to create a model (as
realistic as possible) of the Progressorist activity of the Wanderers in the
system of Earth humanity. Without going into details: I sent all the
materials I gathered to the famous science historian and erudite Isaac
Bromberg. Now I don't even remember why I did that, since by then Bromberg
had not worked in zenology in many years. It must have been because most of
the specialists to whom I had turned with my questions had refused to talk
seriously with me (the Sikorski Syndrome! ), while Bromberg, as everyone