124
TALES FROMTHE FUTURE
would begin to rot and decay while the organism was still alive. Of course,
it’s difficult to imagine a moving human body, inside which the organs are
rotting and decaying. But that’s the way it was.
“Historical sources attest to the fact that people of the technocratic age
even had a science called medicine. They considered the greatest achieve-
ment of this science the ability to replace internal organs. People didn’t un-
derstand that the very existence of such a science indicated the inadequacy
of their consciousness.
“But it wasn’t just people’s flesh that was decaying. Their consciousness
was swiftly degrading, and their intellect. Their thought slowed down, and
they even began losing the ability to count and invented the calculator.
They lost the ability to construct holograms in space, and invented the tele-
vision – that’s a kind of primitive device that shows something resembling a
hologram.
“Once they’d lost the ability to move through space, they began con-
structing artificial apparatuses and called them automobiles, airplanes and
rockets.
“From time to time, various groups of people would attack others and kill
each other. But the most unbelievable thing is that the ‘death’ virus made
people believe that they were not eternal, but only temporary in their per-
ceived space they.
“More and more, the acts of people in the technocratic period turned
planet Earth into a foul-smelling spot in the Universe, reeking of fumes. But
the Universal Intelligence didn’t destroy this noxious spot, but instead kept
waiting for something.”
Interrupting Vladislav’s lecture, a voice rang out from within the group of
opponents headed by Vladislav’s friend Radomir. “Stop for a minute, please.
There’s no point in continuing your speech. Something like that could not
have happened on Earth.”
“All right, I’ll stop my lecture if you really can prove the implausibility of
what I’ve said.”
A young man rose from among the group of opponents and announced
the following:
