"Charles L. Harness - The Rose" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harness Charles L)

The woman smiled grimly and pointed. "These parameters are just a poor approximation of the Bethe
law of nuclear fission in starsтАФold since the thirties."

The man stared at the scathing finger. "Old...?"

"I fear so. But still not bad for an amateur. If you kept at this sort of thing all your life, you might
eventually develop something novel. But this is a mere hodge-podge, a rehash of material any real
scientist learned in his teens."

"But, Martha," pleaded the artist, "surely it isn't all old?"

"I can't say with certainty, of course," returned the woman with malice-edged pleasure, "until I examine
every sub-equation. I can only say that, fundamentally, scientists long ago anticipated the artist,
represented by the great Ruy Jacques. In the aggregate, your amazing Law of Stellar Radiation has been
know for two hundred years or more."

Even as the man stood there, as though momentarily stunned by the enormity of his defeat, Anna began
to pity his wife.

The artist shrugged his shoulders wistfully. "Science versus Art. So the artist has given his all, and lost.
Jacques' Law must sing its swan song, then be forever forgotten." He lifted a resigned face toward the
scientist. "Would you, my dear, administer the coup de grace by setting up the proper coordinates in the
Fourier audiosynthesizer?"

Anna wanted to lift a warning hand, cry out to the man that he was going too far, that the humiliation he
was preparing for his wife was unnecessary, unjust, and would but thicken the wall of hatred that
cemented their antipodal souls together.

But it was too late. Martha Jacques was already walking toward the Fourier piano, and within seconds
had set up the polar-defined data and had flipped the toggle switch. The psychiatrist found her mind and
tongue to be literally paralyzed by the swift movement of this unwitting drama, which was now toppling
over the brink of its tragicomic climax.

A deep silence fell over the room.

Anna caught an impression of avid faces, most of whomтАФJacques' most intimate friendsтАФwould
understand the nature of his little playlet and would rub salt into the abraded wound he was delivering his
wife.

Then in the space of three seconds, it was over.

The Fourier-piano had synthesized the seven equations, six short, one long, into their tonal equivalents,
and it was over.

Dorran, the orchestra leader, broke the uneasy stillness that followed. "I say, Ruy old chap," he blurted,
"just what is the difference in 'Jacques' Law of Stellar Radiation' and 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star'?"

Anna, in mingled amusement and sympathy, watched the face of Martha Jacques slowly turn crimson.

The artist replied in amazement. "Why, now that you mention it, there does seem to be a little