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- Джон Уиндем
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- Стр. 17/223
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My
own
belief
,
for
what
that
is
worth
,
is
that
they
were
the
outcome
of
a
series
of
ingenious
biological
meddlings
—
and
very
likely
accidental
,
at
that
.
Had
they
been
evolved
anywhere
but
in
the
region
they
were
,
we
should
doubtless
have
had
a
well
-
documented
ancestry
for
them
.
As
it
was
,
no
authoritative
statement
was
ever
published
by
those
who
must
have
been
best
qualified
to
know
.
The
reason
for
this
lay
,
no
doubt
,
in
the
curious
political
conditions
then
prevailing
.
The
world
we
lived
in
was
wide
,
and
most
of
it
was
open
to
us
with
little
trouble
.
Roads
,
railways
,
and
shipping
lines
laced
it
,
ready
to
carry
one
thousands
of
miles
safely
and
in
comfort
.
If
we
wanted
to
travel
more
swiftly
still
,
and
could
afford
it
,
we
traveled
by
airplane
.
There
was
no
need
for
anyone
to
take
weapons
or
even
precautions
in
those
days
.
You
could
go
just
as
you
were
to
wherever
you
wished
,
with
nothing
to
hinder
you
—
other
than
a
lot
of
forms
and
regulations
.
A
world
so
tamed
sounds
utopian
now
.
Nevertheless
,
it
was
so
over
five
sixths
of
the
globe
—
though
the
remaining
sixth
was
something
different
again
.
It
must
be
difficult
for
young
people
who
never
knew
it
to
envisage
a
world
like
that
.
Perhaps
it
sounds
like
a
golden
age
—
though
it
wasn
’
t
quite
that
to
those
who
lived
in
it
.
Or
they
may
think
that
an
Earth
ordered
and
cultivated
almost
all
over
sounds
dull
—
but
it
wasn
’
t
that
,
either
.
It
was
rather
an
exciting
place
-
—
for
a
biologist
,
anyway
.
Every
year
we
were
pushing
the
northern
limit
of
growth
for
food
plants
a
little
farther
back
.
New
fields
were
growing
quick
crops
on
what
had
historically
been
simply
tundra
or
barren
land
.
Every
season
,
too
,
stretches
of
desert
both
old
and
recent
were
reclaimed
and
made
to
grow
grass
or
food
.
For
food
was
then
our
most
pressing
problem
,
and
the
progress
of
the
regeneration
schemes
,
and
the
advance
of
the
cultivation
lines
on
the
maps
,
was
followed
with
almost
as
much
attention
as
an
earlier
generation
had
paid
to
battle
fronts
.
Such
a
swerve
of
interest
from
swords
to
plowshares
was
undoubtedly
a
social
improvement
,
but
,
at
the
same
time
,
it
was
a
mistake
for
the
optimistic
to
claim
it
as
showing
a
change
in
the
human
spirit
.
The
human
spirit
continued
much
as
before
—
95
per
cent
of
it
wanting
to
live
in
peace
,
and
the
other
S
per
cent
considering
its
chances
if
it
should
risk
starting
anything
.
It
was
chiefly
because
no
one
’
s
chances
looked
too
good
that
the
lull
continued
.
Meanwhile
,
with
something
like
twenty
-
five
million
new
mouths
bawling
for
food
every
year
,
the
supply
problem
became
steadily
worse
,
and
after
years
of
ineffective
propaganda
a
couple
of
atrocious
harvests
had
at
last
made
the
people
aware
of
its
urgency
.
The
factor
which
had
caused
the
militant
5
per
cent
to
relax
awhile
from
fomenting
discord
was
the
satellites
.
Sustained
research
in
rocketry
had
at
last
succeeded
in
attaining
one
of
its
objectives
.
It
had
sent
up
a
missile
which
stayed
up
.
It
was
,
in
fact
,
possible
to
fire
a
rocket
far
enough
up
for
it
to
fall
into
an
orbit
.
Once
there
,
it
would
continue
to
circle
like
a
tiny
moon
,
quite
inactive
and
innocuous
until
the
pressure
on
a
button
should
give
it
the
impulse
to
drop
back
,
with
devastating
effect
.
Great
as
was
the
public
concern
which
followed
the
triumphant
announcement
of
the
first
nation
to
establish
a
satellite
weapon
satisfactorily
,
a
still
greater
concern
was
felt
over
the
failure
of
others
to
make
any
announcement
at
all
,
even
when
they
were
known
to
have
had
similar
successes
.
It
was
by
no
means
pleasant
to
realize
that
there
was
an
unknown
number
of
menaces
up
there
over
your
head
,
quietly
circling
and
circling
until
someone
should
arrange
for
them
to
drop
—
and
that
there
was
nothing
to
be
done
about
them
.
Still
,
life
has
to
go
on
—
and
novelty
is
a
wonderfully
short
-
lived
thing
.
One
became
used
to
the
idea
perforce
.
From
time
to
time
there
would
be
a
panicky
flare
-
up
of
expostulation
when
reports
circulated
that
as
well
as
satellites
with
atomic
heads
there
were
others
with
such
things
as
crop
diseases
,
cattle
diseases
,
radioactive
dusts
,
viruses
,
and
infections
not
only
of
familiar
kinds
but
brand
-
new
sorts
recently
thought
up
in
laboratories
,
all
floating
around
up
there
.
Whether
such
uncertain
and
potentially
backfiring
weapons
had
actually
been
placed
is
hard
to
say
.
But
then
the
limits
of
folly
itself
—
particularly
of
folly
with
fear
on
its
heels
—
are
not
easy
to
define
,
either
.
A
virulent
organism
,
unstable
enough
to
become
harmless
in
the
course
of
a
few
days
(
and
who
is
to
say
that
such
could
not
be
bred
?
)
,
could
be
considered
to
have
strategic
uses
if
dropped
in
suitable
spots
.
