Русское воскрешение Мэрилин Монро. На 2 языках - страница 48

Пластинка в проигрывателе еще не закончилась, значит, генсек говорил с ним не более двадцати минут. На прощание тот только слегка кивнул академику и закрыл глаза.

“I had no doubts in your faith to the Party, thank you. I had more spare time in this hospital, and I’ve considered your case. North Korean Communists rule their country much firmer than we had done, they do not lose their noble ideals so easily, and they will survive for decades or even centuries after we perish – of course, you must properly understand my frankness. That is why, you must go there, and raise your clones in that country: North Korean Communists proved their ability to build Communist society on their soil. If you are willing to go, I'll start to test the waters. But we’ll have to get them interested in this project. Say, could you clone also a baby Mao Zedong? Body of this great Chinese revolutionary lies in a mausoleum in Beijing, China, exactly as our Lenin here in Moscow, and that means the necessary genetic material is available. Koreans would like to get the upper hand with their Chinese friends, having a baby-Mao clone all to themselves. They will welcome you, I’m sure. Soon you will have a lot of kids, and a lot of fun. Ready?”

“Of course, I’m ready. It’s my duty, comrade Andropov.”

Jazz record still played, and that meant their conversation continued less than twenty minutes. As a farewell General Secretary just tiredly nodded and closed his eyes.

Уже через месяц Юрия Андропова не стало. Академик смотрел по телевизору, как по заснеженной Красной площади везли на пушечном лафете гроб с телом генсека, и комок подступил ему к горлу, а в душе он чувствовал, что главное дело его жизни не удалось, и он, как коммунист, прожил свою жизнь напрасно.

Though, in a month’s time General Secretary Yuri Andropov had died. The academician watched on the TV screen his coffin being solemnly carried on a gun-carriage through the snow-covered Red Square, and a lump rose to his throat. He felt that most important purpose of his life would never be accomplished now, and as a Communist he had lived his life in vain.

Прошли еще полтора года. За это время успел заступить в должность и умереть еще один Генеральный секретарь партии, началась горбачевская «перестройка», а великая коммунистическая держава медленно, но неотвратимо начала сползать в пропасть капитализма.

И вот однажды летним вечером, когда академик вышел во двор своего дома погулять с собакой, из припаркованной рядом машины вышел человек и направился к нему. Академик обратил на него внимание только когда услыхал из его уст свое имя.

Another one and a half years elapsed. One more Secretary General accepted the office, the next one in a queue of elderly Politburo members, but he also died very soon. Much younger Gorbachev was given the office, with a mutual hope on vigor in his veins, but that, as it turned out, was a dubious decision. The last in the party’s history Secretary General started his perestroika, that is a “reconstruction”, and the great Communist state, or as US President Ronald Reagan named it, an Evil Empire, started to slide slowly and inevitably down to the abyss of ideologically opposing Capitalism.

One hot summer evening, when academician got out of his Moscow apartment for a walk with his dog, from the car that was parked by the doorway appeared a stranger and approached him in twilight. The academician noticed him only when the stranger called him by the name