"Роджер Желязны. Lord of Light (Лорд Света, engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

civilization after the manner of their fathers of old. But they are still
children, and like children would they play with our gifts and be burnt by
them. They are our children, by our long-dead First bodies, and second, and
third and many after-- and so, ours is the parents' responsibility toward
them. We must not permit them to be accelerated into an industrial
revolution and so destroy the first stable society on this planet. Our
parental functions can best be performed by guiding them as we do, through
the Temples. Gods and goddesses are basically parent figures, so what could
be truer and more just than that we assume these roles and play them
thoroughly?"
"Why then do you destroy their own infant technology? The printing
press has been rediscovered on three occasions that I can remember, and
suppressed each time."
"This was done for the same reason-- they were not yet ready for it.
And it was not truly discovered, but rather it was remembered. It was a
thing out of legend which someone set about duplicating. If a thing is to
come, it must come as a result of factors already present in the culture,
and not be pulled from out of the past like a rabbit from a hat."
"It seems you are drawing a mighty fine line at that point, Brahma. I
take it from this that your minions go to and fro in the world, destroying
all signs of progress they come upon?"
"This is not true," said the god. "You talk as if we desire perpetually
this burden of godhood, as if we seek to maintain a dark age that we may
know forever the wearisome condition of our enforced divinity!"
"In a word," said Sam, "yes. What of the pray-o-mat which squats before
this very Temple? Is it on par, culturally, with a chariot?"
"That is different," said Brahma. "As a divine manifestation, it is
held in awe by the citizens and is not questioned, for religious reasons. It
is hardly the same as if gunpowder were to be introduced."
"Supposing some local atheist hijacks one and picks it apart? And
supposing he happens to be a Thomas Edison? What then?"
"They have tricky combination locks on them. If anyone other than a
priest opens one, it will blow up and take him along with it."
"And I notice you were unable to suppress the rediscovery of the still,
though you tried. So you slapped on an alcohol tax, payable to the Temples."
"Mankind has always sought release through drink," said Brahma. "It has
generally figured in somewhere in his religious ceremonies. Less guilt
involved that way. True, we tried suppressing it at first, but we quickly
saw we could not. So, in return for our tax, they receive here a blessing
upon their booze. Less guilt, less of a hangover, fewer recriminations-- it
is psychosomatic, you know - and the tax isn't that high."
"Funny, though, how many prefer the profane brew."
"You came to pray and you are staying to scoff, is that what you're
saying, Sam? I offered to answer your questions, not debate Deicrat policies
with you. Have you made up your mind yet regarding my offer?"
"Yes, Madeleine," said Sam, "and did anyone ever tell you how lovely
you are when you're angry?"
Brahma sprang forward off the throne. "How could you? How could you
tell?" screamed the god.
"I couldn't, really," said Sam. "Until now. It was just a guess, based