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

тАШ-engineer. But youтАЩre no medical man. You canтАЩt expect to pour every sort
of radiant energy through the human system year after year and not pay
for it. It wasn't designed to stand it.тАЩ
тАШBut I wear armour in the lab. You know that.тАЩ
тАШSurely. And how about outside the lab?тАЩ
тАШBut- Look, Doc - I hate to say it, but your whole thesis
is ridiculous. Sure there is radiant energy in the air these days,
but nothing harmful. All the colloidal chemists agree-тАЩ
тАШColloidal, fiddlesticks!тАЩ
тАШBut youтАЩve got to admit that biological economy is a matter of
colloidal chemistry.тАЩ
тАШIтАЩve got to admit nothing. IтАЩm not contending that colloids are
not the fabric of living tissue- They are. But IтАЩve maintained for
forty years that it was dangerous to expose living tissue to assorted
radiation without being sure of the effect. From an evolutionary
standpoint the human animal is habituated to and adapted to only
the natural radiation of the sun, and he canтАЩt stand that any too well,
even under a thick blanket of ionization. Without that blanket- Did
you ever see a solar-X type cancer?тАЩ
тАШOf course not.'
тАШNo, youтАЩre too young. I have. Assisted at the autopsy of one, when
I was an intern. Chap was on the Second Venus Expedition. Four
hundred and thirty-eight cancers we counted in him, then gave up.тАЩ
тАШSolar-X is whipped.тАЩ
тАШSure it is. But it ought to be a warning. You bright young squirts
can cook up things in your labs that we medicos canтАЩt begin to
cope with. WeтАЩre behind - bound to be. We usually donтАЩt know
whatтАЩs happened until the damage is done. This time youтАЩve torn it.тАЩ
He sat down heavily and suddenly looked as tired and whipped as
did his younger friend.
Stevens felt the sort of tongue-tied embarrassment a man may feel
when a dearly beloved friend falls in love with an utterly worthless
person. He wondered what he could say that would not seem rude.
He changed the subject. тАШDoc, I came over because I had a couple
of things on my mind-тАЩ
тАШSuch as?тАЩ
тАШWell, a vacation for one. I know IтАЩm run-down. IтАЩve been overworked,
and a vacation seems in order. The other is your pal, Waldo.тАЩ
тАШHuh?тАЩ
тАШYeah. Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones, bless his stiff-necked, bad-tempered
heart.тАЩ
тАШWhy Waldo? You havenтАЩt suddenly acquired an interest in
myasthenia gravis, have you?тАЩ
тАШWell, no. I donтАЩt care whatтАЩs wrong with him physically.
He can have hives, dandruff, or the galloping never-get-overs,
for all I care. I hope he has. What I want is to pick his brains.тАЩ
тАШSo?тАЩ
тАШI canтАЩt do it alone. Waldo doesnтАЩt help people; he uses them.
 YouтАЩre his only normal contact with people.тАЩ
тАШThat is not entirely true-тАЩ