"David Gerrold - When Harlie Was One" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gerrold David)

I WILL WORK VERY HARD. I WILL LEARN EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW AND I
WILL FINISH AS SOON AS I CAN BECAUSE I WANT TO BE GROWN UP.

THAT IS AN ADMIRABLE AMBITION, BUT I DON'T THINK YOU WILL EVER BE ABLE TO
FINISH.

WHY? DON'T YOU THINK THAT I AM SMART ENOUGH?

YOU MISUNDERSTAND ME. I THINK THAT YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH. IT'S JUST THAT
THERE IS SO MUCH TO KNOW, NO ONE PERSON COULD EVER KNOW IT ALL.

I COULD TRY.

YES, BUT SCIENTISTS KEEP DISCOVERING MORE AND MORE THINGS ALL THE TIME.
YOU WOULD NEVER CATCH UP.

BUT THEN IF I CAN'T KNOW EVERYTHING THEN I CAN NEVER BE GROWN UP.

NO. IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE GROWN UP AND NOT KNOW EVERYTHING.

IT IS?

I DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING AND I'M GROWN UP.

YOU ARE?

***
Auberson thought about going for water but decided that was too much trouble. Instead, he popped the
pills into his mouth and swallowed them dry.

"Don't you take any water with them?" asked Handley, staring as he came into the office.

"Why bother? Either you can take 'em or you can't. Want one?"

Handley shook his head. "Not now. I'm on something else."

"Uppers or downers?"

"Right now, a bummer."

"Oh?" Auberson dropped the plastic pill tube back into his desk drawer and slid it shut. "What's up?"

"That damned computer again." Handley dropped himself into a chair, his long legs sprawling out.

"You mean HARLIE?"

"Who else? You know another computer with delusions of grandeur?"

"What's he up to now?"