Transcription of ROADSIDE PICNIC
1 ROADSIDE PICNICA rkady and Boris StrugatskyTranslated from the Russianby Antonina W. BouisCryptomaoist EditionsFROM AN INTERVIEW BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT FROMHARMONT RADIO WITH DOCTOR VALENTINE PILMAN, RECIPIENTOF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS FOR "I suppose that your first serious discovery, Dr. Pilman, should be consideredwhat is now called the Pilman Radiant?""I don t think so. The Pilman Radiant wasn t the first, nor was it serious, norwas it really a discovery. And it wasn t completely mine, either.""Surely you re joking, doctor. The Pilman Radiant is a concept known to everyschoolchild.""That doesn t surprise me. According to some sources, the Pilman Radiantwas discovered by a schoolboy.
2 Unfortunately, I don t remember his name. Lookit up in Stetson s History of the Visitation -- it s described in full detail there. Hisversion is that the radiant was discovered by a schoolboy, that a college studentpublished the coordinates, but that for some unknown reason it was named afterme.""Yes, many amazing things can happen with a discovery. Would you mindexplaining it to our listeners, Dr. Pilman?""The Pilman Radiant is simplicity itself. Imagine that you spin a huge globeand you start firing bullets into it. The bullet holes would lie on the surface in asmooth curve. The whole point of what you call my first serious discovery liesin the simple fact that all six Visitation Zones are situated on the surface of ourplanet as though someone had taken six shots at Earth from a pistol located some-where along the Earth-Deneb line.
3 Deneb is the alpha star in Cygnus. The Pointin the heavens from which, so to speak, the shots came is the Pilman Radiant.""Thank you, doctor. My fellow Harmonites! Finally we have heard a clearexplanation of the Pilman Radiant! By the way, the day before yesterday was thethirtieth anniversary of the Visitation. Dr Pilman, would you care to say a fewwords to Your fellow townsmen on the subject?""What in particular interests you? Remember, I wasn t in Harmont at the time.""That makes it even more interesting to hear what you felt when your hometownbecame the site of an Invasion from a supercivilization from space.""To tell the truth, I first thought it was a hoax. It was hard to imagine that any-thing like that could possibly happen in our little Harmont.
4 Gobi or Newfoundlandseemed more likely than Harmont.""Nevertheless, you finally had to believe it.""Finally -- yes.""And then?""It suddenly occurred to me that Harmont and the other five Visitation Zones --sorry, my mistake, there were only four other sites known at the time -- that all ofthem fit on a very smooth curve. I calculated the coordinates and sent them toNature.""And you weren t at all concerned with the fate of your hometown?""Not really. You see, by then I had come to believe in the Visitation, but Isimply could not force myself to believe the hysterical reports about burningneighborhoods and monsters that selectively devoured only old men and childrenand about bloody battles between the invulnerable invaders and the highly vul-nerable but steadfastly courageous Royal Tank Units.
5 ""You were right. I remember that our reporters really botched the story. Butlet s return to science. The discovery of the Pilman Radiant was the first, but prob-ably not the last, of your contributions to our knowledge of the Visitation!""The first and last.""But surely you have been carefully following the international research in theVisitation Zones?""Yes. Once in a while I read the Reports. ""You mean the Reports of the International Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures?""Yes.""And what, in your opinion, has been the most important discovery in thesethirty years?""The fact of the Visitation itself.""I beg your pardon?""The fact of the Visitation itself is the most important discovery not only ofthe past thirty years but of the entire history of mankind.
6 It s not so important toknow just who these visitors were. It s not important to know where they camefrom, why they came, why they spent so little time here, or where they disappearedto since. The important thing is that humanity now knows for sure: we are not alonein the universe. I fear that the Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures will never befortunate enough to make a more fundamental discovery.""This is very fascinating, Dr Pilman, but actually I was thinking more of advan-ces and discoveries of a technological nature. Discoveries that our earth scientistsand engineers could use. After all, many very important scientists have proposedthat the discoveries made in the Visitation Zones are capable of changing the en-tire course of our history.
7 ""Well, I don t subscribe to that point of view. And as for specific discoveries --that s not my field.""Yet for the past two years you ve been Canadian consultant to the UN Com-mission on Problems of the Visitation.""Yes. But I have nothing to do with the study of extraterrestrial cultures. Onthe commission my colleagues and I represent the international scientific communitywhen questions come up on implementing UN decisions regarding the internation-alization of the Zones. Roughly speaking, we make sure that the extraterrestrialmarvels found in the Zones come into the hands of the International Institute.""Is there anyone else after these treasures?""Yes.""You probably mean stalkers!""I don t know what they are.
8 ""That s what we in Harmont call the thieves who risk their lives in the Zone tograb everything they can lay their hands on. It s become a whole new profession.""I understand. No, that s not within our competence.""I should think not. That s police business. But I would be interested in knowingjust what does fall within your competence, Dr. Pilman.""There is a steady leak of materials from the Visitation Zones into the hands ofirresponsible persons and organizations. We deal with the results of these leaks.""Could you be a little more specific, doctor?""Can t we talk about the arts instead? Wouldn t the listeners care to know myopinion of the incomparable Godi Muller?""Of course! But I would like to Finish with science first.
9 As a scientist, aren tyou drawn to dealing with the extraterrestrial treasures yourself?""How can I put it? I suppose so."Then, we can hope that one fine day Harmonites will see their famous fellowcitizen on the streets of his home town?""It s not impossible."1. REDRICK SCHUHART, AGE 23, BACHELOR, LABORATORYASSISTANT AT THE HARMONT BRANCH OF THE INTERNATIONALINSTITUTE FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL CULTURESThe night before, he and I were in the repository -- it was already evening, allI had to do was throw off my lab suit and I could head for the Borscht to put a dropor two of the stiff stuff into my system. I was just standing there, holding up thewall, my work all done and a cigarette in my hand.
10 I was dying for a smoke -- itwas two hours since I d had one, and he was still puttering around with his had loaded, locked, and sealed one safe and was loading up the other one --taking the empties from the transporter, examining each one from every angle(and they re heavy little bastards, by the way, fifteen pounds each), and carefullyreplacing them on the had been struggling with those empties forever, and the way I see it, with-out any benefit to humanity or himself. In his shoes, I would have said screw itlong ago and gone to work on something else for the same money. Of course, onthe other hand, if you think about it, an empty really is something mysterious andmaybe even incomprehensible.
