"Robert A Heinlein - Red Planet v1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

sterilizer, then filled them.

Doctor MacRae accepted a cup and said, "Jim, this citizen
says he's okay. What's the trouble?"

"I know he says he's all right, Doc, but he's not. Can't you
examine him and find out?"

"Examine him? How, boy? I can't even take his tempera-
ture because I don't know what his temperature ought to be. I
know as much about his body chemistry as a pig knows about
patty-cake. Want me to cut him open and see what makes him
tick?"

Willis promptly withdrew all projections and became as
featureless as a billiard ball. "Now you've scared him," Jim
said accusingly.

"Sorry." The doctor reached out and commenced scratch-
ing and tickling the furry ball. "Good Willis, nice Willis. No-
body's going to hurt Willis. Come on, boy, come out of your
hole."

Willis barely dilated the sphincter over his speaking dia-
phragm. "Not hurt Willis?" he said anxiously in Jim's voice.

"Not hurt Willis. Promise."

"Not cut Willis?"

"Not cut Willis. Not a bit."

The eyes poked out slowly. Somehow he managed an ex-
pression of watchful caution, though he had nothing resem-
bling a face. "That's better," said the doctor. "Let's get to the
point, Jim. What makes you think there's something wrong
with this fellow, when he and I can't see it?"

"Well, Doc, it's the way he behaves. He's all right indoors,
but outdoors- He used to follow me everywhere, bouncing
around the landscape, poking his nose into everything."

"He hasn't got a nose," Francis commented.

"Go to the head of the class. But now, when I take him out,
he just goes into a ball and I can't get a thing out of him. If
he's not sick, why does he act that way?"

"I begin to get a glimmering," Doctor MacRae answered.
"How long have you been teamed up with this balloon?"