月別アーカイブ: 2016年8月

Meantime, heedless of all these things, the men upon the floor were going about their work. Neither squeals of hogs nor tears of visitors made any difference to them; one by one they hooked up the hogs, and one by one with a swift stroke they slit their throats. There was a long line of hogs, with squeals and lifeblood ebbing away together; until at last each started again, and vanished with a splash into a huge vat of boiling water bicelle b5 gel.

It was all so very businesslike that one watched it fascinated. It was porkmaking by machinery, porkmaking by applied mathematics. And yet somehow the most matter-of-fact person could not help thinking of the hogs; they were so innocent, they came so very trustingly; and they were so very human in their protests—and so perfectly within their rights! They had done nothing to deserve it; and it was adding insult to injury, as the thing was done here, swinging them up in this cold-blooded, impersonal way, without a pretense of apology, . Now and then a visitor wept, to be sure; but this slaughtering machine ran on, visitors or no visitors. It was like some horrible crime committed in a dungeon, all unseen and unheeded, buried out of sight and of memory.

One could not stand and watch very long without becoming philosophical, without beginning to deal in symbols and similes, and to hear the hog squeal of the universe. Was it permitted to believe that there was nowhere upon the earth, or above the earth, a heaven for hogs, where they were requited for all this suffering? Each one of these hogs was a separate creature. Some were white hogs, some were black; some were brown, some were spotted; some were old, some young; some were long and lean, some were monstrous Nespresso.

And each of them had an individuality of his own, a will of his own, a hope and a heart’s desire; each was full of self-confidence, of self-importance, and a sense of dignity. And trusting and strong in faith he had gone about his business, the while a black shadow hung over him and a horrid Fate waited in his pathway. Now suddenly it had swooped upon him, and had seized him by the leg. Relentless, remorseless, it was; all his protests, his screams, were nothing to it—it did its cruel will with him, as if his wishes, his feelings, had simply no existence at all; it cut his throat and watched him gasp out his life Coffee Maker.

“The ‘Owigin Question.’ The place of the owigin of the human species,y’know. Suahly you must know that it is thought that owiginally the humanwace occupied only one planetawy system.”"Well, yes, I know that.”"Of cohse, no one knows exactly which system it is ? lost in the mists ofantiquity. Theah ah theawies, howevah. Siwius, some say. Othahs insist onAlpha Centauwi, oah on Sol, oah on 61 Cygni ?all in the Siwius sectah, yousee.”"And what does Lameth say?”"Well, he goes off along a new twail completely. He twies to show thatahchaeological wemains on the thuhd planet of the Ahctuwian System showthat humanity existed theah befoah theah wah any indications ofspace-twavel.”

“And that means it was humanity’s birth planet?”"P’haps. I must wead it closely and weigh the evidence befoah I can sayfoah cuhtain. One must see just how weliable his obsuhvations ah.”Hardin remained silent for a short while. Then he said, “?”"Oh ?I should say about eight hundwed yeahs ago. Of cohse, he has based itlahgely on the pwevious wuhk of Gleen.”"Then why rely on him? Why not go to Arcturus and study the remains foryourself?”Lord Dorwin raised his eyebrows and took a pinch of snuff hurriedly. “Why,whatevah foah, my deah fellow?”"To get the information firsthand, of course.”"But wheah’s the necessity

It seems an uncommonly woundabout andhopelessly wigmawolish method of getting anywheahs. Look heah, now, I’vegot the wuhks of all the old mastahs ? the gweat ahchaeologists of thepast. I wigh them against each othah ?balance the disagweements ?analyzethe conflicting statements ?decide which is pwobably cowwect ?and come toa conclusion. That is the scientific method. At least” ?patronizingly ?asI see it. How insuffewably cwude it would be to go to Ahctuwus, oah to Sol,foah instance, and blundah about, when the old mastahs have covahed thegwound so much moah effectually than we could possibly hope to do.”Hardin murmured politely, “I see.”"Come, milord,” said Pirenne, “think we had better be returning.”"Ah, yes. P’haps we had.”As they left the room, Hardin said suddenly, “Milord, may I ask aquestion?”Lord Dorwin smiled blandly and emphasized his answer with a graciousflutter of the hand. “Cuhtainly, my deah fellow. Only too happy to be ofsuhvice laser facial.

If I can help you in any way fwom my pooah stoah of knowledge-”"It isn’t exactly about archaeology, milord.”"No?”"No. It’s this: Last year we received news here in Terminus about themeltdown of a power plant on Planet V of Gamma Andromeda. We got the barestoutline of the accident ?no details at all. I wonder if you could tell meexactly what happened.”Pirenne’s mouth twisted. “I wonder you annoy his lordship with questions ontotally irrelevant subjects.”"Not at all, Doctah Piwenne,” interceded the chancellor. “It is quite allwight. Theah isn’t much to say concuhning it in any case.