"Heinlein, Robert A - A Tenderfoot in Space - Original Version v1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

УEver lived with a cat? No, I see you havenТt. How can you have the gall not to like something you donТt know anything about? Wait till youТve lived with a cat, then tell me what you think. Until then. . . well, who told you were entitled to an opinion?Ф
УHuh? Why, everybody is entitled to his own opinion!Ф
УNonsense, Bub. Nobody is entitled to an opinion about something he is ignorant of. If the Captain told me how to bake a cake, I would politely suggest that he not stick his nose into my trade . . . contrariwise, I never tell him how to plot an orbit to Mars.Ф
УSlim, youТre changing the subject. How about Nixie? HeТs going to be all right . . . isnТt he?Ф
УAs I was saying, I donТt have opinions about things I donТt know. Happens I donТt know dogs. Never had one as a kid; I was raised in a big city. Since then IТve been in
space. No dogs.Ф
УDarn it, Slim!ЧyouТre being evasive: You know about sleep-freeze. I know you do.Ф
Slim sighed. УKid, youТre going to die someday and so am I. And so is your pup. ItТs the one thing we canТt avoid. Why, the shipТs reactor could blow up and nOne of us would know what hit us till they started fitting us with haloes. So why fret about whether your dog comes out of sleep-freeze? Either he does and youТve worried unnecessarily. . . or he doesnТt and thereТs nothing you can do about it.Ф
УSo you donТt think he will?Ф
УI didnТt say that. I said it was foolish to worry.Ф
But Charlie did worry; the talk with Slim brought it to the top of his mind, worried him more and more as the day got closer. The last month seemed longer to him than the four dreary months that had preceded it. -
As for Nixie, time meant nothing to him. Suspended between life and death, he was not truly in the Hesperus at all; bu1~ somewhere el-se, outside of time. It was merely his shaggy little carcass that lay, stored like a ham, in the frozen hold of the ship.
Eventually the Captain slowed his ship, matched her with Venus and set her in a - parking orbit alongside VenusТs single satellite station. After transshipment and maddening delay the Vaughns were taken down in the winged shuttle Cupid into the clouds of Venus and landed at the north pole colony, Borealis.
For Charlie there was a still more maddening delay: cargo (which included Nixie) was unloaded after passengers and took many days because the mighty Hesperus held so much more than the little Cupid. He could not even go over to the freight sheds to inquire about Nixie as immigrants were held at the reception center for quarantine. Each one had received many shots during the five-month trip to innoculate them against the hazards of Venus; now they found that they must wait not only on most careful physical examination and observation to make sure that they were not bringing Earth diseases in with them but also to receive more shots not available aboard ship. Charlie spent the days with sore arms and gnawing anxiety.
So far he had had one glimpse outdoorsЧa permanently cloudy sky which never got dark and was never very bright. Borealis is at VenusТs north pole and the axis of the planet is nearly erect; the unseen Sun circled the horizon, never rising nor setting by more than a few degrees. The colony lived in eternal twilight.
The lessened gravity, nine-tenths that of Earth, Charlie did not notice even though he knew he should. It had
been five months since he had felt Earth gravity and the Hesperus had maintained only one-third gravity in that outer part, where spin was most felt. Consequently Charlie felt heavier than seemed right, rather than lighterЧhis feet had forgotten full weight.
Nor did he notice the heavy concentration (about 2%) of carbon dioxide in the air, on which VenusТs mighty jungles depended. It had once been believed that so much carbon dioxide, breathed regularly, would kill a man, but long before space flight, around 1950, experiments had shown that even a higher concentration had no bad effects. Charlie simply didnТt notice it.
All in all, he might have been waiting in a dreary, barracks-like building in some tropical port on Earth. He did not see much of his father, who was busy by telephone and by germproof conference cage, conferring with his new employers and arranging for quarters, nor did he see much of his mother; Mrs. Vaughn had found the long trip difficult and was spending most of her time lying down.
Nine days after their arrival Charlie was sitting in the recreation room of the reception center, disconsolately reading a book he had already read on Earth. His father came in. УCome along.Ф
УHuh? WhatТs up?Ф
УTheyТre going to try to revive your dog. You want to be there, donТt you? Or maybe youТd rather not? I can go. . . and come back and tell you what happened.Ф
Charlie gulped. УI want to be there. LetТs go.Ф
The room was like the one back at White Sands where Nixie had been put to sleep, except that in place of the table there was a cage-like contraption with glass sides. A man was making adjustments on a complex apparatus which stood next to the glass box and was connected to it. He looked up. УYes? WeТre busy.Ф
УMy name is Vaughn and this is my son Charlie. HeТs the owner of the dog.Ф
The man frowned. УDidnТt you get my message? IТm Doctor Zecker, by the way. YouТre too soon; weТre just bringing the dog up to temperature.Ф
Mr. Vaughn said, УWait here, Charlie,Ф crossed the room and spoke in a low voice to Zecker.
Zecker shook his head. УBetter wait outside.Ф
Mr. Vaughn again spoke quietly; Dr~ Zecker answered, УYou donТt understand. I donТt even have proper equipmentЧIТve had to adapt the force breather we use for hospital monkeys. It was never meant for a dog.Ф
They argued in whispers for a few moments. They were interrupted by an amplified voice from outside the room УReady with ninety-seven-X, DoctorЧthatТs the dog.Ф
Zecker called back, УBring it in!ФЧthen went on to Mr. Vaughn, УAll rightЧkeep him out of the way. Though I still say he would be better off outside.Ф He turned, paid them no further attention.
Two men, came in, carrying a large tray. Something quiet and not very large was heaped on it, covered by dull blue cloth. Charlie whispered, УIs that Nixie?Ф
УI think so,Ф his father-answered in a low voice. УKeep quiet and watch.Ф
УCanТt I see him?Ф
УStay where you are and donТt say a wordЧelse the doctOr will make you leave.Ф
Once inside, the team moved quickly and without speaking, as if this were something rehearsed again and again, something that must be done with great speed and perfect precision. One of them Opened the glass box; the other placed the tray inside, uncovered its burden. It was Nixie, limp and apparently dead. Charlie caught his breath.
One assistant moved the little body forward, fitted a collar around its neck, closed down a partition like a guillotine, jerked his hands out of the way as the other assistant slammed the glass door through which they had put the dog in, quickly sealed it. Now Nixie was shut tight in a -glass coffin, his head lying outside the end partition, his body inside. УCycle!Ф
Even as he said it, the first assistant slapped a switch and fixed his eyes on the instrument board and Doctor Zecker thrust both arms into long rubber gloves passing through the glass, which allowed his hands to be inside with NixieТs body. With rapid, sure motions he picked up a hypodermic needle, already waiting inside, shoved it deep jnto the dogТs side.
УForce breathing established.ФТ
УNo heart action, Doctor!Ф
The reports came one on top of the other, Zecker looked up at the dials, looked back at the dog and cursed. He grabbed another needle. This one he entered gently, depressed the plunger most carefully, with his eyes on the dials. УFibrillation.Ф
УI can see!Ф he answered snappishly, put down the hypo and began to massage the dog in time with the ebb and surge of the Уiron lung.Ф
And Nixie lifted his head and cried.

It was more than an hour before Dr. Zecker let Charlie take the dog away. During most of this time the cage was open and Nixie was breathing on his own, but with the apparatus still in place, ready to start again if his heart or lungs should falter in their newly relearned trick of keeping him alive. But during this waiting time Charlie was allowed- to stand beside him, touch him, sooth and pet him to keep him quiet.
At last the doctor picked up Nixie and put him in CharlieТs arms. УOkay, take him. But keep him quiet; I donТt want him running around for the next ten hours. But not too quiet, donТt let him sleep.Ф
УWhy not, Doctor?Ф asked Mr. Vaughn.
УBecause sometimes, when you think theyТve made it, they just lie down and quitЧas if they had had a taste of
death and fOund they liked it. This pooch has had aТ near squeakЧwe have only seven minutes to restore blood supply to the brain. Any longer than that. . . well, the brain is permanently damaged and you might as well put it out of its misery.Ф
УYou think you made it in time?Ф