"Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land - Original Ve" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

be. The second phrase was listed in his mind with several possible translations.
If Doctor Nelson used it, it meant one thing; if Captain van Tromp used it, it
was a formal sound, needing no reply.
He felt that dismay which so often overtook him in trying to communicate
with these creatures-a frightening sensation unknown to him before he met men.
But he forced his body to remain calm and risked an answer. "Feel good."
"Good!" the creature echoed. "Doctor Nelson will be along in a minute.
Feel like some breakfast?"
All four symbols in the query were in Smith's vocabulary but he had
trouble believing that he had heard them rightly. He knew that he was food, but
he did not "feel like" food. Nor had he had any warning that he might be
selected for such an honor. He had not known that the food supply was such that
it was necessary to reduce the corporate group. He was filled with mild regret,
since there was still so much to grok of these new events, but no reluctance.
But he was excused from the effort of translating an answer by the
entrance of Dr. Nelson. The ship's doctor had had little rest and less sleep; he
wasted no time on speech but inspected Smith and the array of dials in silence.
Then he turned to Smith. "Bowels move?" he asked.
Smith understood this; Nelson always asked about it. "No, not yet."
"We'll take care of that. But first you eat. Orderly, fetch in that tray."
Nelson fed him two or three bites, then required him to hold the spoon and
feed himself. It was tiring but gave him a feeling of gay triumph, for it was
the first unassisted action he had taken since reaching this oddly distorted
space. He cleaned out the bowl and remembered to ask, "Who is this?" so that he
could praise his benefactor.
"What is this, you mean," Nelson answered. "It's a synthetic food jelly,
based on amino acids-and now you know as much as you did before. Finished? All
right, climb out of that bed."
"Beg pardon?" It was an attention symbol which he had learned was useful
when communication failed.
"I said get out of there. Sit up. Stand up. Walk around. You can do it.
Sure, you're weak as a kitten but you'll never put on muscle floating in that
bed." Nelson opened a valve at the head of the bed; water drained out. Smith
restrained a feeling of insecurity, knowing that Nelson cherished him. Shortly
he lay on the floor of the bed with the watertight cover wrinkled around him.
Nelson added, "Doctor Frame, take his other elbow. We'll have to help him and
steady him."
With Dr. Nelson to encourage him and both of them to help him, Smith stood
up and stumbled over the rim of the bed. "Steady. Now stand up on your own,"
Nelson directed. "Don't be afraid. We'll catch you if necessary."
He made the effort and stood alone-a slender young man with underdeveloped
muscles and overdeveloped chest. His hair had been cut in the Champion and his
whiskers removed and inhibited. His most marked feature was his bland,
expressionless, almost babyish face-set with eyes which would have seemed more
at home in a man of ninety.
He stood alone for a moment, trembling slightly, then tried to walk. He
managed three shuffling steps and broke into a sunny, childlike smile. "Good
boy!" Nelson applauded.
He tried another step, began to tremble violently and suddenly collapsed.
They barely managed to break his fall. "Damn!" Nelson fumed. "He's gone into