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But the men who provided that appeal and affirmation couldn t afford to be cautious. They wouldn t check and double check. They couldn t wait for the grudging and jealous approval of the professionals. They had to use stunts, tricks, fakes anything to get over the big point. Once that had been done, once mankind was headed down the new road, it would be easy enough to give the average man the necessary degree of insight to heal the breach with the pro-fessionals, to make good in actuality what had been made good only in pretense. Have I stated our position fairly? Tregarron s eyes were hooded. You re the one who s telling it. On those general assumptions we established our hold on susceptible leaders and the mob, Jorj went file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruisw...Fritz%20Leiber%20-%20Best%20of%20Fritz%20Leiber.html (123 of 242)22-2-2006 0:35:38 best of fritz leiber on. We built Maizie and the Mars rocket and the Mind Bomb. We discovered the wisdom of the Martians. We sold the people on the science that the professionals had been too high-toned to advertise or bring into the market place. But now that we ve succeeded, now that we ve made the big point, now that Maizie and Mars and science do rule the average human imagination, the time has come to take the second big step, to let accomplishment catch up with imagination, to implement fantasy with fact. Do you suppose I d ever have gone into this with you if it hadn t been for the thought of that second big step? Why, I d have felt dirty and cheap, a mere charlatan except for the sure conviction that someday everything would be set right. I ve devoted my whole life to that conviction, Jan. I ve studied and disciplined myself, using every scientific means at my disposal, so that I wouldn t be found lacking when the day came to heal the breach between the Thinkers and the professionals. I ve trained myself to be the perfect man for the job. Jan, the day s come and I m the man. I know you ve been concentrating on other aspects of our work; you haven t had time to keep up with my side of it. But I m sure that as soon as you see how carefully I ve prepared myself, how completely practical the neutron-drive rocket project is, you ll beg me to go ahead! Tregarron smiled at the ceiling for a moment. Your general idea isn t so bad, Jorj, but your time scale is out of whack and your judgment is a joke. Oh yes. Every revolutionary wants to see the big change take place in his lifetime, Teh! It s as if he were watching evolutionary vaudeville and wanted the Ape-to- Man Act over in twenty minutes. Time for the second big step? Jorj, the average man s exactly what he was ten years ago, except that he s got a new god. More than ever he thinks of Mars as a Hollywood paradise, with wise men and yummy princesses. Maizie is Mama magnified a million times. As for professional scientists, they re more jealous and stuffy than ever. All they d like to do is turn the clock back to a genteel dream world of quiet quadrangles and caps and gowns, where every commoner bows to the passing scholar. Maybe in ten thousand years we ll be ready for the second big step. Maybe. Meanwhile, as should be, the clever will rule the stupid for their own good. The realists will rule the dreamers. Those with free hands will rule those who have deliberately handcuffed themselves with taboos. Secondly, your judgment. Did you actually think you could have bossed those professionals, kept your mental footing in the intellectual melee? You, a nuclear physicist? A rocket scientist? Why, it s Take it easy now, boy, and listen to me. They d have torn you to pieces in twenty minutes and glad of the chance! You baffle me, Jorj. You know that Maizie and the Mars rocket and all that are fakes, yet you believe in your somno-learning and consciousness-expansion and optimism-pumping like the veriest yokel. I wouldn t be surprised to hear you d taken up ESP and hypnotism. I think you should take stock of yourself and get a new slant. It s overdue. file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruisw...Fritz%20Leiber%20-%20Best%20of%20Fritz%20Leiber.html (124 of 242)22-2-2006 0:35:38 best of fritz leiber He leaned back. Jorj s face had become a mask. His eyes did not flicker from Tregarron s, yet there was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |