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

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?"

Jim thought back over the twenty-four months of the Mar-
tian year. "Since along toward the end of Zeus, nearly No-
vember."

"And now here it is the last of March, almost Ceres, and
the summer gone. That suggest anything to your mind?"

"Uh, no."

"You expect him to go hopping around through the snow?
We migrate when it gets cold; he lives here."

Jim's mouth dropped open. "You mean he's trying to hi-
bernate?"

"What else? Willis's ancestors have had a good many mil-
lions of years to get used to the seasons around here; you can't
expect him to ignore them."

Jim looked worried. "I had planned to take him with me to
Syrtis Minor."

"Syrds Minor? Oh, yes, you go away to school this year,
don't you? You, too, Frank."

"You bet!"

"I can't get used to the way you kids grow up. It was just
last week I was painting your thumb to keep you from sucking
it."

"I never sucked my thumb!" Francis answered.
"No? Then it was some other kid. Never mind. I came to
Mars so that the years would be twice as long, but it doesn't
seem to make any difference."

"Say, Doc, how old are you?" inquired Francis.

"Mind your own business. Which one of you is going to
study medicine and come back to help me with my practice?"

6 Robert A. Heinlein

Neither one answered. "Speak up, speak up!" urged the