"Frank Herbert - The Eyes of Heisenberg" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

profession. Not many people could enter the tight little group of sub-cellular engineers who
kept human variety within bounds.
Nurse Washington paused in the door behind the Durants, said, 'Dr Svengaard, Harvey
and Lizbeth Durant.' She left without waiting for acknowledgments. Nurse Washington's
timing and discretion always were exquisitely correct.
The Durants, how nice,' Dr Svengaard said. 'I hope my nurse didn't bore you with all
those forms and questions. But I guess you knew you were letting yourselves in for all that
routine when you asked to watch.'
'We understand,' Harvey Durant said. And he thought, Asked to watch, indeed! Does this
old fake think he can pull his little tricks on us?
Dr Svengaard noted the rich, compelling baritone of the man's voice. It bothered him,
added to his dislike.
'We don't want to take any more of your time than absolutely necessary,' Lizbeth Durant
said. She clasped her husband's hand and through their secret code of finger pressures said:
'Do you read him? He doesn't like us.'
Harvey's fingers responded, 'He's a Sterne prig, so full of pride in his position that he's
half blind.'
The woman's no-nonsense tone annoyed Dr Svengaard. She already was staring around
the lab, quick, searching looks.I must keep control here, he thought. He crossed to them,
shook hands. Their palms were sweaty.
Nervous. Good, Dr Svengaard thought.
The sound of a viapump at his left seemed reassuringly loud to him then. You could count
on the pump to make parents nervous. That was why the pumps were loud. Dr Svengaard
turned toward the sound, indicated a sealed crystal vat on a force-field stand near the lab's
center. The pump sound came from the vat.
'Here we are,' Dr Svengaard said.
Lizbeth stared at the vat's milky translucent surface. She wet her lips with her tongue. 'In
there?'
'And as safe as can be,' Dr Svengaard said.
He cherished the small hope then that the Durants might yet leave, go home and await
the outcome.
Harvey took his wife's hand, patted it. He, too, stared at the vat. 'We understand you've
called in this specialist,' he said.
'Dr Potter,' Svengaard said. 'From Central.' He glanced at the nervous movements of the
Durants' hands, noting the omnipresent tattooed index fingers - gene type and station. They
could add the coveted 'V for viable now, he thought, and he suppressed a momentary
jealousy.
'Dr Potter, yes,' Harvey said. Through their hands, he signaled Lizbeth, 'Notice how he
scud Central?'
'How could I miss it?' she responded.
Central, he thought. The place conjured pictures of the lordly Optimen, but this made her
think of the Cyborgs who secretly opposed the Optimen, and the whole thing filled her with
profound disquiet. She could afford to think of nothing but her son now.
'We know Potter's the best there is,' she said, 'and we don't want you to think we're just
being emotional and fearful...'
'... but we're going to watch,' Harvey said. And he thought, This stiff-necked surgeon had
better realize we know our legal rights.
'I see,' Dr Svengaard said. Damn these fools! he thought. But he held his voice to a
soothing monotone and said, 'Your concern is a matter of record. I admire it. However, the
consequences...'